January 20, 2022
At the December 2021 meeting of the Golden LEAF Board of Directors, the Board awarded $4,910,962 for 11 projects through the Golden LEAF SITE Program. The funding supports sites in Macon, Montgomery, Halifax, Nash, Alexander, Yancey, Cumberland, Duplin, Franklin, McDowell, and Rockingham counties.
The SITE Program supports communities in identifying potential sites for economic development, to enable completion of due diligence on sites already identified, or to extend public utilities to or conduct rough grading and clearing of sites for which due diligence has been completed. The three phases of the SITE Program are Identification, Due Diligence, and Development.
SITE Program – Identification allocates funds to a firm contracted by Golden LEAF to help identify potential industrial sites in a community that does not currently have a quality industrial site to market. Macon County and Montgomery County were selected to receive assistance in this phase.
The Golden LEAF Board awarded $86,000 in funding to support three SITE Program – Due Diligence projects. These projects will receive funding to complete eligible due diligence activities such as environmental assessments, archeological analyses, and mapping. Communities receiving SITE Program – Due Diligence support include:
- $18,500 to Halifax County for the Enfield Industrial Park.
- $50,000 to Nash County for the Middlesex Corporate Centre.
- $17,500 to the Foundation for Duplin County Industrial and Business Development for the Duplin County AirPark.
For the SITE Program – Development, the Golden LEAF Board awarded $4,794,962 in funding for six projects that will provide public infrastructure and, for publicly owned sites, clearing and rough grading, to benefit sites that have completed the due diligence necessary to demonstrate that the site is suitable for development. Communities receiving SITE Program – Due Development support include:
- $632,412 to Alexander County Economic Development Corporation for grading and erosion control for a building pad.
- $1,000,000 to East Yancey Water and Sewer District to provide roughly 11,000 linear feet of water main extension and grading at a new industrial park. The project will support the location of Little Leaf Farms that will create 100 jobs at a $53,700 annual average wage, $86 million in private investment, and another potential site at this new park.
- $965,830 to the City of Fayetteville to upgrade a sewer lift station and construct a force main, and some due diligence activities for 172.13 acres located at Fayetteville Regional Airport.
- $252,720 to the Town of Louisburg for clearing, grubbing, and rough grading at Louisburg Commerce Park, an approximately 50-acre site that recently expanded.
- $952,000 to McDowell County for clearing and grubbing, and rough grading of approximately 50 percent of the 413-acre Universal Technology Park site.
- $992,000 to Rockingham County for clearing, grubbing, and rough grading of a 33-acre lot within Reidsville Industrial Park.
Golden LEAF has launched a second round of funding for the SITE Program. Information and applications are available on the website at www.goldenleaf.org/SITE.