North Carolina Economic Development Guide

2017

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34 N O R T H C A R O L I N A E C O N O M I C D E V E L O P M E N T G U I D E 1201 Edwards Mill Road, Suite 400, Raleigh, NC 27607 (888) 246-2332 | nceda@capstrat.com The Voice of Economic Development in North Carolina NCEDA is the statewide association for professional economic developers and their allies in North Carolina. Our name says it all We do what nobody else does - cover one very special place, this state, and its economy, which is as diverse as the people who call it home. We produce quality, in-depth journalism, digging behind the news, delivering what we uncover in a manner that, though at times provocative, is always fair, accurate and thorough. The only statewide business magazine Subscribe today: www.businessnc.com/subscribe ALSO AVAILABLE: a digital edition for iPad Buy single issues or subscribe. Download today, available in the App Store actually wanted to go to South Carolina to be close to the BMW factory," he says. "And I admit, South Carolina had a better off er." He says that while the county and state off ered nice incentives — including a performance-based grant of up to $150,000 from the One North Carolina Fund — he eventually persuaded the company to choose Henderson County. While Broenner may be biased, he says western North Carolina is often unjustly overlooked by companies interested in moving to the region. It's particularly hard to compete with the Greenville/Spartanburg area along the Interstate 85 corridor, he says, because not only is the area backed by aggressive state and county incentives, it also has the BMW plant and is close to an inland port. "The companies that are coming here from overseas and looking for a new location will draw a one-hour circle around the BMW plant," he says. "About 80% of that circle is in South Carolina. So to pry them away from that area is really hard." Many visiting CEOs "don't even make it up the mountain to see how attractive it is here for a potential workforce," Broenner says. "People don't realize they can actually live here, make good money and work with state-of-the-art equipment for cutting-edge companies. It's like hitting the jackpot. ... We have to do more to advertise all of our advantages, because there are so many." 290 AUTOMOTIVE MANUFACTURERS IN THE STATE 26K WORKERS IN THE INDUSTRY 25% INDUSTRY GROWTH IN NC OVER THE LAST FIVE YEARS SOURCE: ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT PARTNERSHIP OF NORTH CAROLINA G E A R I N G F O R G R O W T H

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