August 29, 2007

Published in Wake Forest, NC

            “You guys don’t have as much abundant land” as, say, Wendell, Wayne Watkins with Wake County Economic Development told the chamber of commerce’s economic development committee Tuesday afternoon, but he did begin the meeting by talking about pre-certifying large tracts for industry. They could look at tracts as small as 25 acres, he said.

            Jonathan Hand with North State Bank wanted to know about water and sewer availability for new industry or business since Raleigh owns the town’s water and sewer systems. “How is Raleigh going to view it?”

            “The powers that be are behind this, so it would be difficult to stymie it on political divisions,” Watkins said.

            Bob Johnson, who with his wife, Elizabeth, owns six downtown buildings, said others from the county office which is staffed by the Greater Raleigh Chamber of Commerce had talked about large industrial sites and pre-certifying them for sale. We just listened, Johnson said, because Wake Forest with its hilly terrain and lack of large available sites seems more suited for smaller, more entrepreneurial types of businesses.

            Tina Archer, the executive director of the Downtown Revitalization Corporation, pointed out that there are 70 vacant acres in the downtown core Renaissance area. The Research Triangle Park is running out of land. Archer suggested opening satellite offices in Wake Forest. “That would certainly bring economic development to Wake Forest and to downtown.” The new Wake County Regional Center on East Holding Avenue will have 100 or so employees and “will make a significant impact on downtown.”

            “We have several places where there are ten to twenty acres,” former mayor Dick Monteith said. They could hold an office park with 80,000 to 150,000 square feet of office space. “Could we plug that in?”

            “I would say yes,” Watkins said.

            Because of the access to I-540, Watkins said, “you guys are plugged in. If 540 wasn’t there, you wouldn’t be on the first page” in the list of possible industrial sites.

            Gary Lyons, who deals in commercial real estate for Sperry Van Ness, asked, “Do you have a good handle on the companies we do have?” He named PowerSecure and Fujitsu.

            That makes a difference, Watkins said, because like industries tend to cluster. Wake Forest needs to identify the assets it has.

            Jodi LaFreniere, the Wake Forest chamber executive director, said it was helpful to have company people who can talk to other company executives.

            Dick Bell, the head of the committee and a project developer with Bobbitt, said the committee needs to start assembling a list of possible properties, checking whether they are zoned correctly and other relevant information.

            Deputy Planning Director Chad Sary, who had been in an earlier meeting with LaFreniere and some officials from an unnamed company looking for a site, said he would put together a great deal of the information.

            “How do we keep them from jumping over the line?” Hand asked, going to Franklin County where there is flatter, cheaper land.

            “You take your strength and you build on that,” Johnson said.

            Watkins listed a few of the industries that are hot now and looking for a home: computer games, bio-tech, medical devices – “sort of limping along” – and non-woven textiles. There is a firm with its research and development office in Wake but its manufacturing in Rutherfordton. “It’s the knowledge base that is a more logical fit for the [Wake] county.”

            After Watkins left for another appointment, Bell assigned tasks to develop a building and site inventory and to look at the possible roadblocks to attracting industry.