Moore County Economic Development Partnership (MCEDP) recently released their Quarterly Progress Report highlighting their activities and initiatives in the areas of economic development, community development and workforce development for the quarter ended Dec. 31, 2023.

“Our top highlight of this quarter was MCEDP’s acquisition of the Iron Horse Industrial Park in Aberdeen,” said Natalie Hawkins, President of MCEDP, in a press release. “Our organization achieved a historic milestone with this acquisition, making Iron Horse Moore County’s first publicly controlled industrial site. We greatly appreciate the collaborative efforts of several partners that culminated in this accomplishment.”

MCEDP saw 72 leads at the end of this quarter. “We were able to respond with suitable properties for 42 percent, or 30, of those leads, and as we make progress with our development activities preparing Iron Horse for business recruitment and identifying more sites, we look forward to significantly increasing our response percentage with future leads,” said Hawkins in a press release.

This quarter, MCEDP’s Business Retention & Expansion efforts included visiting six Moore County businesses and hosting two special events: a Manufacturing Day Breakfast in October and the 2023 Moore Entrepreneurial Summit in November.

To celebrate National Manufacturing Day on Oct. 6, MCEDP and partners hosted a Manufacturing Day breakfast and roundtable discussion for Moore County’s manufacturers. On Nov. 14, MCEDP hosted the inaugural Moore Entrepreneurial Summit in Pinehurst. Nearly 200 aspiring entrepreneurs and small business owners attended the sold-out event. MCEDP is planning the 2nd annual Summit to be held later this year.

In addition to acquiring the 73-acre Iron Horse Industrial Park, MCEDP also made substantial progress this quarter toward implementing $1,380,000 in key development activities planned for the site that include constructing an access road, timbering approximately 56 acres and grubbing & grading 15 acres.

MCEDP also began exploring other potential opportunities for business park development that include:

• Evaluating the viability of a 319-acre site and a 237-acre site that were each identified through NC’s Southeast Partnership’s Large Site Identification Analysis as having high development potential.
• Entering into Development Agreements with local property owners that could enable MCEDP to obtain public control of sites without having to outlay cash to purchase them.
• Implementing a shell building or industrial incubator development program that could generate recurring revenue for MCEDP to fund other site development activities.

Also notably this quarter, MCEDP prepared a 38-page “Moore County Economic Task Force Report” at the request of the Moore County Commissioners’ Economic Task Force. The report includes an overview of the local economy and an extensive analysis of existing infrastructure, population & employment projections, external factors affecting the future economy and Moore County’s economic assets & strategic advantages. Based on the data analysis, the report provides seven key strategies identified by MCEDP that can take advantage of Moore County’s economic opportunities and help support positive economic growth. 

“MCEDP looks forward to working collaboratively with local governments and other partner organizations to purposefully implement these strategies to help Moore County accommodate anticipated growth, retain our high quality of life and foster continued prosperity,” said Hawkins in a press release.

The full Quarterly Progress Report as well as the Moore County Economic Task Force Report, can be viewed on the Moore County EDP website. 

Moore County Economic Development Partnership (MCEDP) is a 501c(3) not-for-profit economic development organization and public-private partnership serving all of Moore County. For more information about MCEDP, got to www.moorecountyedp.org.