Posted on 06/18/2017 7:52:17 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
A more than $20 million state-of-the-art commercial cold storage facility is coming to Edgecombe County and creating more than 100 permanent jobs in the region.
Lionchase Holdings Inc., a privately held asset management firm, recently agreed to build a $22.7 million, 200,000-square-foot facility at the Tarboro Commerce Center, a manufacturing and distribution park, located at exit 484 off U.S. 64 in Tarboro. The Carolinas Gateway Partnership, town of Tarboro and Lionchase Holdings all were part of the agreement for the planned development.
Construction is slated to start this summer with a planned completion timeline of 18 months for the new facility and an anticipated start of operations by Dec. 31, 2018.
Ken Brown, managing partner of Lionchase Holdings, said the goals of the new development is to attract international and national companies needing large-scale cold storage capabilities for produce, meat and other industries and to accelerate economic and employment opportunities in Nash and Edgecombe counties.
The new facility is expected to create at least 100 permanent, full-time jobs, which is a shot in the arm for Edgecombe County, which has one of the highest unemployment rates in North Carolina. Ryan Gragg, partner and communications director of Alexis Agency, a strategic communication firm that helped negotiate the deal, said they will be good-paying jobs.
“The beauty of this development is that it will quickly attract quality industries to the area while improving the economic viability for local residents,” Brown said. “We fully intend to offer at least 25 percent of the newly created full-time jobs to individuals who currently qualify as low or moderate income.”
Oppie Jordan, vice president of Carolinas Gateway Partnership who recruits for Edgecombe County, said the agreement was a direct result of CSX’s new intermodal terminal coming to Edgecombe County. Gragg acknowledged the $270 million hub’s upcoming arrival into the Twin Counties certainly made things more appealing but wasn’t the total driving force.
He added the Carolinas Gateway Partnership was instrumental in making the pitch about how agricultural is such a dominant industry in the state.
“We were ready to move forward without it (CSX), but it certainly made the project even more viable and much more competitive,” Gragg said. “We were also told by the Partnership about how this was a great time and place to get a large commercial cold storage facility in this particular region because there are a lot of interest from large food companies and food processing companies.”
Despite Edgecombe County’s economic woes over the years, Gragg said it’s well-positioned for growth. Edgecombe County sits close to Raleigh-Durham International airport, two major shipping ports — Wilmington and Moorhead City — Interstate 95 and also will be the home for the new terminal, which will reportedly produce more than 1,500 jobs statewide.
“Everyone around the country is aware of what is happening in Edgecombe County,” Gragg said. “We looked at this as an opportunity and not an obstacle or strife against the project. “This signals that Edgecombe County has embraced the change to move forward and bring jobs back into the area to increase economic development opportunities. I’m also very impressed with the Carolinas Gateway Partnership’s commitment to growing the region with industries that are going be relevant for the next 20 to 30 years. That signals opportunities for redevelopment and growth in a region that has been economically distressed.”
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.