The search is on for the Fayetteville Cumberland Economic Development Corporation as they look for a location for a future megasite to increase economic growth and opportunity for the Cumberland County area. 

According to FCEDC Vice President Rob Patton, the search is a new development for the corporation and is still in the early stages, but the overall purpose of a new site is to position Cumberland County as an option for larger manufacturing opportunities seen in other parts of the state. 

“If you look around what's going on in North Carolina, if you look at the wins like Toyota and VinFast,[for those] kinds of wins that the state’s had, you have to have a mega site,” said Patton. “Some of these major projects that are being landed, you're looking at billions of dollars of injecting capital into the area.” 

Patton shared that the goal is to find a piece of land measuring between 1,000 to 2,000 acres that has not only the right type of soil and layout, but also offers the essentials such as water, gas, electric and rail access.  

“A lot of these industries that require megasites have a lot of cargo either comes in, or product that goes out that they'll rail it either down to the port or to other locations. So that's kind of what you look for when you look for a megasite and we understand that there's not necessarily one piece of land, it may take multiple tracts of land to put together a megasite. But to truly be competitive for these transformational projects we have to have something close to if not on the mark for a megasite,” said Patton. 

The FCEDC will keep Cumberland County as the primary area for the future site, but Patton said they are open to sharing a location across county lines for a joint county industrial park. 

For now, the location scouting is a solo venture for the FCEDC, but Patton said the possibilities for partnership could be available in the future. 

“We are kind of the eyes and ears right now. Could we partner with somebody? Sure. Could it be a private public partnership? Absolutely. But right now, we're really kind of in the scouting mode of what's viable before we go down any other sort of relationship or partnership arrangements.” 

Patton said the FCEDC is working with realtors and putting feelers out for land options, but the public is also able to offer input. 

“If folks know of land, if someone has land that can fit into this, let us know and we'll take a look. And this is really a community effort if you will, to get this so that we can potentially land one of these big [projects,]” said Patton.  

The public is welcome to provide suggestions by going online to the FCEDC website at www.fayedc.com or contact the corporation at (910) 500-6464.