CHARLOTTE—Chatham Park is set to generate $80 billion in spending for Chatham County, $140 billion for the Triangle region, and $154 billion for North Carolina by the time construction is complete 40 years from now. That's according to a recent economic impact study North Carolina State University conducted.

Chatham Park is a 7,000-plus acre master-planned live, work, play sustainable community under construction in Pittsboro, NC. The project has zoning approval for 22 million square feet of commercial, office, and civic space, along with 22,000 resident units.

That will make it one of the largest master-planned communities in the nation. Nearly 2,000 acres will be set aside for parks and open space, along with 50-plus miles of walking and biking trails that will interconnect homes, offices, and shopping, and offer residents direct access to nearby Jordan Lake and the historic Haw River.

Led by economist Dr. Michael Walden, the study also reveals that after the full build-out of Chatham Park, the development will have created 61,000 permanent jobs in Chatham County. The study also projects the project will lead to 99,000 permanent jobs in the Triangle region and 115,000 permanent jobs in North Carolina.

“Prior to conducting the study, I knew that a project with the size and scope of Chatham Park will have a significant impact on the local, regional, and state economies, and after calculating the numbers, the impact is truly impressive,” says Walden, a William Neal Reynolds Distinguished Professor at North Carolina State University, who also advises the N.C. Department of Commerce and N.C. General Assembly on economic matters. The study was commissioned by the Chatham Economic Development Corporation, the lead economic development agency marketing Chatham County.

“Chatham Park offers companies that are looking to relocate or expand their operations a marquee location in the Research Triangle region with direct access to highly educated talent from some of the country's top universities,” says Dianne Reid, president of Chatham Economic Development Corporation. “This project alone will quadruple the number of permanent jobs in Chatham County, as well as double the county's tax revenue.”

To measure the economic impacts from the Chatham Park development, Walden used the IMPLAN software, the most widely used economic model in the country. Federal and state government agencies, including the Federal Reserve Bank and the N.C. Department of Commerce, utilize IMPLAN for economic impact studies.

“Out of the 40 largest upcoming commercial construction projects in the Southeast, nearly half will be mixed-use facilities,” Alex Carrick, chief economist at Construction Market Data, tells GlobeSt.com. “Mixed-use projects provide a developer with a more stable source of revenue. A risk in one area, such hotel accommodation, can be offset by activity levels in another, such as retail. Mixed-use projects can also widen the financing base. Lenders are reassured when borrowers have several different sources of earnings. All their eggs aren't being placed in one basket.”