The Golden LEAF grant helped Johnston County and the Town of Four Oaks provide water and sewer infrastructure to support the location of Broad River Retail, LLC in the Town of Four Oaks. Broad River Retail, the largest independently owned Ashley HomeStore licensee, planned to locate a new corporate campus and distribution center in Four Oaks. The project was expected to create 161 permanent full-time jobs with an average annual wage of $42,391, compared to the county average of $39,553. The water and sewer infrastructure also served other properties and created beneficial redundancies in the systems. Golden LEAF’s funds were awarded to Johnston County, which constructed the water improvements and entered an interlocal agreement or similar arrangement with the Town of Four Oaks, which constructed the sewer improvements. The total cost of the water and sewer infrastructure was $3.025 million.
