Moore County EDP shares report highlighting activities and initiatives for the quarter ended March 31, 2025

By Staff Report, posted May 12, 2025 on BizFayetteville.com

Moore County Economic Development Partnership (MCEDP) recently released their Quarterly Progress Report highlighting their activities and initiatives for the quarter ended March 31, 2025.

“MCEDP is pleased to share two project wins this quarter,” said MCEDP President Natalie Hawkins in a press release. “After MCEDP worked with Amazon and First Tee-Sandhills over several months to help facilitate their searches for suitable sites, each made public announcements recently about their respective plans to locate new facilities in Moore County.”

Highlighted activities and successes this third quarter of the MCEDP fiscal year included:

In January, Amazon announced plans to construct a 65,000 square-foot last mile distribution facility on +/- 16 acres of the Southern Pines Corporate Park. In March, First Tee of the Sandhills announced plans to locate their headquarters and a Community Hub on +/- 35 acres in Cameron.
MCEDP submitted an application for a $75,000 USDA Rural Business Development Grant to obtain a Bioeconomy Development Opportunity Rating and stimulate the recruitment of woody biobased businesses to Moore County.
MCEDP staff attended the Hunter Hotel Investment Conference in March and met with hotel and investor representatives to discuss opportunities for new hotel investments in Moore County.
MCEDP visited five manufacturers this quarter and connected them to customized workforce training opportunities, English as a Second Language resources and helped secure four engineering student interns through NC State University's Rural Works Program to work at two of the manufacturers' facilities.
MCEDP continued to work with the NC Department of Transportation (NCDOT) and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) on the design and construction plans for the access road to the Iron Horse Industrial Park in Aberdeen. NCDOT provided a timeline that estimates road construction will begin in February/March 2026 and be completed in September/October 2026.
After securing a one-year Option to Purchase the 42-acre site off NC Highway 24/27 in Robbins, MCEDP used funding from a $35,000 NC’s Southeast product development grant this quarter to complete several due diligence analyses including a Phase I Environmental Site Assessment and wetlands delineation. None of the reports identified any obstacles to the potential future development of the property as a business park site.
MCEDP collaborated with Lee & Chatham counties and other partners to help begin organizing a regional music festival planned for 2026.
At the March Moore 100 Members Meeting, Patrick Bowen presented the findings from the Moore County Housing Needs Assessment study his firm conducted in 2024. The study revealed demand for housing will continue to increase as Moore County is projected to grow by 4.2% between 2023 and 2028. This growth will contribute to an estimated housing gap of over 7,700 units between 2024 and 2029.
The Moore County Land Use Plan Steering Committee concluded its nine-month review of the County’s 2013 Land Use Plan and provided their report of suggested Plan Goals, Recommendations and Actions that prioritizes preserving rural agricultural areas and implementing a “small town model” to prevent urban sprawl.

The full Quarterly Progress Report for the quarter ended March 31, 2025 can be viewed on the MCEDP website at www.moorecountyedp.org.

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, NC. For more information about MCEDP, visit www.moorecountyedp.org.

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