LAURINBURG — Scotland County Economic Development Corporation held a groundbreaking on Tuesday for a 50,000-square foot Industrial Incubator.
Representatives from NC House of Representatives, Scotland County Commissioners, City of Laurinburg, and North Carolina Southeast Partnership were participants in the event.
By being proactive and preparing for the future, SCEDC began the process in 2019 to seek grant and bank funding to construct this building. Almost 2 years from the initial application, SCEDC is moving forward with the 2nd of several buildings within the Scotland Incubator Park. Although the application began in 2019 this project actually began in 2013 with the construction of the Small Business Innovation Center, currently housing NC Works and CCL Labels. Chairman Whit Gibson mentioned “Previous board members knew that for our community to thrive it was necessary and vital to diversify our economic development efforts with entrepreneurial efforts, retention of current industries, and create pad-ready sites and available buildings. Today we begin working on our 2nd facility that will assist in the attraction of industries to our community.”
Once the building is completed by the 1st quarter of 2024, SCEDC will have a facility that can accommodate industry and give them the speed to get their product to consumers and the ability to expand the facility to 100k square feet. Scotland County is part of an 18-county partnership and in the first quarter of 2022 there were only 5 qualified available buildings for industry to locate within the region.
Mark Ward, President for SCEDC “This building is a collective effort between all levels of government working to make Scotland County better. We are thankful for our partnership and financial support with EDA, NC Legislators, Scotland County, City of Laurinburg, NCSE, and First Bank.” SCEDC has currently received $2MM from Economic Development Association, $650,000 from Scotland County (of which came from appropriations from NC’s 2022-2023 budget), $262,00 from North Carolina Southeast Partnership, and loan funds from First Bank.
Garland Pierce, NC House Representative for District 48, stated “Scotland County received $2 million from NC Legislators this budget year, and projects such as this is a perfect example of how we (NC Legislators) believed funding to the counties would help our citizens and businesses with creating higher wage jobs. I look forward to coming back to a ribbon cutting when completed and announcing an industry that’s making investments and creating jobs in our community.”
This is the first announcement since SCEDC added two non-elected officials to the board, Lee Howell and Thomas Ammons.
Lee Howell – “I appreciate any opportunity to serve our community. We (SCEDC) are looking beyond today and planning for the future with this facility. In today’s business culture, time is your enemy. Customers want the product in their hands today and us having a building that is ‘move-in ready’ will give us an advantage over other communities.”
Thomas Ammons – “Working within other counties throughout the Southeast, I have seen ventures such as this work in attracting industries. There aren’t enough available buildings to serve the need of today’s business environment. I look forward to other business professionals joining our efforts in the construction of speculative buildings in our market.”