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A new report shows that Alamance County experienced growth and new investment last year despite a global economic slowdown due to the coronavirus.
The Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina released its 2020 Annual Report last week, including details of new investments and job growth in Alamance County.
The Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina 2020 Annual Report
Times-News
Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina
The EDPNC works with local and state partners to recruit new businesses to North Carolina, close expansion deals and create new jobs. In 2020, the EDPNC helped closed 147 new corporate location and expansion deals, generating more than 20,000 jobs and $6.3 billion in capital investments.
The new investment total was the state’s largest in the last decade, despite the challenges 2020 brought to the business community. The number of new jobs connected to these projects was the second-highest in the last decade, just slightly lower than 2019’s 21,675 jobs, according to the report.
“The EDPNC, along with the entire state, faced unprecedented headwinds in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Christopher Chung, chief executive officer of the EDPNC. “Nonetheless, we saw strong results in our work with local and state partners to recruit new corporate facilities to the state. We did this even as the EDPNC also deployed new approaches to support our hard-hit tourism industry, as well as our exporters, existing manufacturers, and other small businesses.”
Among the successful project completed in 2020, 69 were new facility projects bringing in an anticipated 12,636 jobs and $4.14 billion in capital investments. Seventy-eight expansion deals were closed, generating 7,390 jobs and $2.19 billion in capital investments. Additionally, 2,609 jobs and $1.36 billion in capital investments were tied to foreign direct investment deals.
The manufacturing and assembly industries saw the biggest boom from these deals, with 100 deals creating 8,806 jobs and $4.18 billion in investments. Six completed corporate office/shared services projects ranked second in most jobs generated (5,445) and investments ($1.15 billion). Warehouse/distribution deals ranked second for the number of completed projects with 14.
Other industries impacted by the EDPNC’s work include corporate headquarters, service/sales and “other.”
Among the wins of 2020 were over 20,000 new jobs created, $6.3 billion in investments and $1.3 billion in new annual payroll statewide.
Times-News
Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina
Locally, Alamance County saw two big wins in 2020 that were helped along by the EDPNC. The UPS deal impacting both Alamance and Guilford counties will bring in 592 jobs and $316.4 million in investments. More specifically, the $262.2 million UPS facility in Mebane will create 451 jobs. Alamance will also see 160 new jobs and $52 million in capital investments brought on by the Chick-fil-A distribution center.
The Prepac Manufacturing facility in nearby Whitsett also generated 201 jobs and $27.1 million in capital investments, according to the report.
These wins are not the end of EDPNC’s work. As of Dec. 31, 2020, North Carolina was “actively being considered” for 158 potential business recruitment or expansion projects and 34,836 potential jobs connected to active projects, the report said. These projects could generate $9.14 billion in capital investments for the state.
The COVID-19 pandemic undoubtedly impacted the business community in 2020, yet the EDPNC was able to close deals to support local and state economies.
“COVID-19 did affect the overall number of projects the state actively competed for in 2020. Forty companies in the EDPNC’s active-project pipeline placed their plans on hold, including international companies unable to travel for in-person site visits. But new projects continued to enter the potential project pipeline,” the annual report said.
With these 2020 wins, Site Selection magazine ranked North Carolina as the nation’s top state business climate in 2020 and Business Facilities magazine named the state its 2020 State of the Year.
“Job creation will play a role as the state continues to recover from the economic impacts of the pandemic,” Melissa Smith, EDPNC vice president of business recruitment and development, said.
To learn more about North Carolina’s growth in 2020, check out the full annual report at edpnc-emergingstronger.com.
Elizabeth Pattman is the trending topics reporter for the Times-News in Burlington, covering business, COVID-19 and all things trending. Contact Elizabeth (she/her) at epattman@gannett.com. I'm also available on social media @EPattmanTN on Twitter or @burlingtontimesnews on Instagram.
