Vance County Attracts $20-Mil Wal-Mart Distribution Center

"We've had slow but steady economic growth in the past five years," Benny Finch, director of the Vance County Economic Development Commission, tells GlobeSt.com. "There are three or four new motels, a new shopping center and some other commercial ventures."

Vance County has about 42,000 residents and an unemployment rate of about 9%, among the highest in the state. The area is about three hours east of Charlotte and an hour's drive from Downtown Raleigh.

One of Henderson's main claims to commercial fame is its busy intersection at US 1 and Interstate 85, a key transportation hub to haul goods and products elsewhere in the region. "We're an area that could be rich in distribution facilities because of those two major highways," Finch tells GlobeSt.com.

Partly as a result of that, Finch points out, Lowe's opened a 114,000-sf superstore and Staples unveiled a 30,000-sf outlet within the past three months. "There are also some multifamily projects under way," he adds. But they are generally small, under 50 units. Most office activity is build to suit.

But any development is good news here, and the state's Dept. of Commerce Secretary Jim Fain was on hand last week to welcome the announcement Wal-Mart planned a $20-million food distribution center. Work should start on the 400,000-sf facility this summer and be completed in a year. The number of employees is expected to grow to 400 within three years.

Technology is also being courted in Vance County. A group of private investors is in the early stages of planning Triangle North Park, a proposed 80,000-sf facility just off bustling I-85 near the Vance-Granville Community College, which Finch terms an "excellent community college training center."

"The college is across the street from the park," he says. "The idea would be that some employees of the Triangle could be trained right across the street."