In the photo above taken by staff writer Derik Vanderford sits Allied Industrial International, the manufacturer currently located in the area Union County wants to develop into the Allied Industrial Park — a third certified economic development site. Below, the red outline encompasses the proposed park.
A presentation detailing a collaborative project between the Union County Development Board and Duke Energy was given by McCallum Sweeney Consulting Monday evening at Union County Advanced Technology Center.
The presentation was to inform about the following:
• The Site Selection Process—to explain what it takes for a county to win an industrial project and why a site must be “ready” in order to compete
• The Duke Site Readiness Program
• The evaluation — including strengths, weaknesses, recommendations and a conceptual plan — of a potential Union County site for Site Certification.
The Union County site evaluated is located at 1088 Gaffney Highway in Jonesville. Allied Industrial International — a plant which manufactures Eco-Grip Flooring — currently takes up 9.5 acres of the total 117 acres of property. The goal of the Union County Development Board is to transform the property into Allied Industrial Park.
The board wishes to add Allied Industrial Park as a third certified site in the county.
“We have already done this twice,” said Union County Development Board Executive Director Andrena Powell-Baker referring to the Trakas Industrial Site and Sams Industrial Tract. “The feedback is important for people to understand what companies are looking for.”
Monday marked the site’s invitation into the state certification program, which includes four phases. The Allied Industrial site eliminated the first two phases, however, by participating in the Duke Energy Site Readiness Program’s evaluation.
The time line for site certification is one year from the time a site is entered into the state program, which — for the Allied Industrial site — was Monday.
“This is another step in developing our community so we can attract new industry,” Powell-Baker said.
For several years, Duke Energy has sponsored the program to identify, assess, improve and increase industrial sites in the counties Duke Energy serves in North Carolina and South Carolina. The goal is to increase the inventory of industrial sites throughout the Carolinas and to advance the state of readiness of these sites.
Monday’s presentation also included a list of the site’s strengths and weaknesses from both a technical and marketing standpoint.
Some of the technical strengths include having 82.8 developable acres, adequate natural gas and water infrastructure on site and a location 42 miles from GSP International Airport. Some of the weaknesses listed included being located 17 miles from I-85, a lack of zoning in the jurisdiction, and the fact that the municipal wastewater infrastructure is located 1.7 miles from the site. From a marketing standpoint, Union County’s strong manufacturing workforce base is a strength. Marketing weaknesses listed included a higher unemployment rate than the state average and a lower high school and bachelor’s degree attainment rate than the state average.
Jeannette Goldsmith — McCallum Sweeney Principal — stated weaknesses can be overcome by using testimonies from existing employers like Dollar General. She stated Union County was going in the right direction by getting more sites certified.
“Union will be ahead of other counties because it has product ready,” Goldsmith said. “You are doing what you need to do to combat the weaknesses: Getting sites ready.”
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