Anson Economic Development Corporation

Elected officials and community and civic leaders gathered today for the dedication of the Anson 74 Rail Park, the Charlotte region’s newest rail-served industrial development. Situated on 140 acres of prime land between two U.S. highways and featuring a spur off the CSX “Queen City Express” line, the park recently completed Duke Energy’s Site Readiness program and is attracting interest from companies for its outstanding location and existing rail infrastructure. Based on the Duke study, the park could one day support nearly one million square feet of light industrial and warehouse space and provide jobs for more than 400 employees. The park’s proximity to existing retail development also creates opportunities for future mixed-use residential and commercial growth along the nearby U.S. Highway 74 corridor. “The completion of the site readiness plan is a major step forward for the park and for industrial development in Anson County in general,” commented AnsonEDP executive direct...

For many years, Anson County was known primarily to North Carolinians as, "that place you drive through on the way to the coast," or, "that place with the good peach ice cream." Fairly or unfairly, it was often perceived as a long stretch of open highway with a few sleepy towns, fast food restaurants and gas stations catering to beach traffic. But that perception is rapidly changing, as a series of circumstances have converged to position Anson County as the new hot growth corridor in the Charlotte region. Here are five things you need to know: 1. Anson County is closer than you think. The distance from the town hall in Peachland to Center City Charlotte is just 40 miles. Numerous traffic lights and slow truck traffic on US Highway 74 in Union County currently make it an hour and 15 minute drive, but when the Monroe Expressway opens in late 2018, the drive from western Anson County to Charlotte will clock in at around 45 minutes, similar to that of other exur...

If you have followed my blog at all over the past year, you know that I expect the Monroe Expressway to be a “game changer” for the economy of Anson County, but until now few practical details about the road have been made public. Today, Megan, Shelby and I attended a briefing by NC Turnpike Authority Director of Outreach and Community Affairs Warren Cooksey that filled in many of the blank spaces, and I wanted to share that information with you. When will the Monroe Expressway open? Cooksey indicated that the Expressway is on schedule to open in “late fall” of 2018, but noted that “fall” technically extends to December 20th. Based on these comments, I think we can reasonably infer that the road will open sometime in December of this year. How much time will the Expressway save the average driver? Assuming that a driver takes the entire 18 mile trip from Exit 255 in Stallings to Exit 273 in Marshville, the minimum time savings will be 15 minutes. However, the Ex...

In 2017, tourists spent more than $17.4 million dollars in Anson County, up 4.8 % from 2016. The higher spending is attributed to a general increase in visitor spending throughout the state and to an increased emphasis on marketing the county to out of town visitors. Overall, Anson recorded the 26th largest year-over-year gain among North Carolina's 100 counties, although the $17.4 million total lagged neighboring counties Richmond ($49.7 million), Stanley ($81.1 million), Scotland ($45.1) and Montgomery ($29.9 million). While the increase in annual spending is certainly a positive, that we fall significantly behind counties of similar size and location is a little curious, at least on the surface. When we dig a little bit though, the reasons become somewhat clearer. Virtually all of our tourism dollars come from pass-through business: People stopping here on the way to the beach or heading back home to Charlotte. Unquestionably, we capture our share of visitors stopping for a qu...

Prior to coming to Wadesboro in 2016, I spent 10 years as an economic developer for the City of Statesville. One of Statesville’s claims to fame was that it was annually among the top Micropolitans in Site Selection magazine’s economic activity rankings. During my tenure there, Statesville finished in the top five every year, and number one on four occasions, regularly beating out other similarly-sized North Carolina communities like Shelby, Thomasville and Kinston. A Micropolitan is defined by the U.S. Census Bureau as a town or city with a population of at least 10,000, but not more than 50,000, that is the primary population center for its county. Anson County’s largest town, Wadesboro, has a population just under 6,000, and as such does not qualify. So why am I even bringing it up? Glad you asked. With the Oldcastle and Southern Fabricators announcements earlier this week, Anson County has announced six major projects (as defined by Site Selection ) since Apri...

Anson Economic Development Partnership is pleased to announce that Southern Fabricators, Inc. is expanding its Polkton facility in Anson County. The company plans to invest up to $4.8 million at the plant and create 33 new jobs over the next two years. The announcement was made this afternoon at an open house hosted by the company and attended by elected officials and community leaders. Southern Fabricators, founded in 1968, offers “build to print” metal fabrication and welding services from its 100,000 square foot facility in Polkton, 45 miles east of Charlotte. The planned expansion will include a 20,000 square foot addition which will house an extended powder coat line and a new state-of-the-art industrial laser cutter. To support the new capacity, the company, which currently employs 141, will add an additional 33 employees. In support of the project, the Rural Division of the North Carolina Department of Commerce is providing a $165,000 Building Reus...

Anson Economic Development Partnership is pleased to announce that Oldcastle - Adams Products Division is expanding its facility near Lilesville. The company plans to invest up to $2.3 million over the next 3 years in physical expansion of the plant and the addition of new equipment. The project is expected to generate at least 10 new jobs. Oldcastle currently operates a 100,000 square foot ready-mix bagged concrete facility which employs 69 at the site off Haileys Ferry Road. Products produced at the plant are shipped throughout the Carolinas to hardware stores, big box retail and construction contractors, with  75% of production going to Lowe’s and Home Depot. The new buildings, equipment and jobs are in response to increased demand from the retail sector and the trend toward DIY construction projects, and will be phased in at the location over a 2-3 year period, beginning with a new half-million dollar warehouse expanson that broke ground this past week.  Plant m...