|
TOP MICROPOLITANS
From Site Selection magazine, March 2007
|
|
|
Mooresville- based DeBotech
built a new 16,000- sq.- ft. (1,486- sq.- m.) plant last year to expand its
racing components manufacturing operation in Iredell County, N.C. The $2- million investment also adds six
new employees.
Photo courtesy of DeBotech
|
Racing
to a
Title Yet Again
Statesville- Mooresville claims 'three- peat' as
top micropolitan in New Plant ranking.
by RON
STARNER
ron.starner
bounce@conway.com
he Statesville- Mooresville area's economic developers don't have to
blow their own horn in touting the North Carolina community's success. The
area's companies do it for them.
Hans deBot, founder and owner of
racing components manufacturer DeBotech,
says he wouldn't do business anyplace else. "I've been doing business
for about eight years in Mooresville. I've been in the business for 20
years," he says. "I used to work for a company in Charlotte. The
future of Iredell County is definitely in racing and motorsports. This county
will absolutely continue to attract racing support firms.
It
is a very attractive location for any business in the industry because this
is Race City USA."
With more than 90 percent of the NASCAR motorsports teams
headquartered in Iredell County, the Statesville- Mooresville
Micropolitan Area more than lives up to its nickname. Racing is also a big
reason why Statesville-
Mooresville claimed the
checkered flag in Site Selection's annual Top Micropolitans
category for new and expanded corporate facilities in 2006.
With 28 projects, Iredell County topped No. 2 Wooster,
Ohio, which had 21, and third- place Tupelo, Miss.,
which had 20. Of the 3,142 counties in the U.S., the Census Bureau classifies
674 of them as micropolitan areas because they have a population under 50,000
and their local economies are largely self- sustaining.
For the third year in row, Statesville- Mooresville, N.C., beat out the other 3,141 micros
by winning the most corporate expansions in this category.
Also in the top 10 micros were No. 4 Daphne- Fairhope, Ala., followed by Batavia, N.Y.; Cullman,
Ala.; Lincolnton, N.C.; Tifton, Ga.; Moses Lake, Wash.; Mankato- North Mankato, Minn.; and Columbia, Tenn.
For deBot, the choice to build a
new $2- million, 16,000- sq.- ft. (1,486- sq.- m.) plant in Mooresville was an easy one. "I
live in Cornelius, I rent a place in Troutman, and my wife's family is in
Statesville," deBot tells Site Selection.
"Staying in this area was key. I also put in
place a key business relationship with Riley Technologies. Riley has been a
customer of mine for many years, and I did the work to get them here."
Riley Technologies LLC, perhaps the
world's best- known manufacturer of race car chassis, had been
considering a move from Indianapolis to Mooresville to take advantage of Race
City's proximity to NASCAR racing teams – but it took deBot
to convince Riley to pull the trigger.
"Riley had contact with the Robert Yates Racing team
and was doing chassis design work for NASCAR," deBot
says. "They had an interest in moving to this area for many years,
particularly as Indianapolis was becoming a declining area in the motorsports
industry.
|
Race car chassis maker Riley Technologies (below) was
coaxed into moving to Mooresville by DeBotech
founder Hans deBot, who ended up building right
next door.
|
|
|
|
|
I told Ron McMahon [vice president and general
manager of Riley Technologies] that 'you need to get out of Indy and move
down here and dominate the market.' "
The Riley team flew to Mooresville and listened to a
proposal from deBot, the town of Mooresville and
the North Carolina Department of Commerce. They liked what they heard.
"I wasn't going to build a facility, but because of
what happened with Riley, I went to look for a site to build a facility with
them or next to them," deBot says. "We
ended up building two new buildings side by side in Mooresville. We are now
next- door neighbors."
Riley decided to build a 40,000- sq.- ft. (3,716- sq.- m.) shop adjacent to DeBotech
in the Talbert Pointe Business Park. The move makes for a good match. Riley
built the race cars that finished in the top seven positions in the recent
Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona, and DeBotech made
virtually every single fiber component part in their chassis.
DeBotech also builds components
for the McLaren- Saleen
F7 race car, as well as the famous Red Bull Air Race championship airplane
flown by Mike Mangold. "We even made the
carbon fiber components for the competitive bobsled used by Team USA in the
2002 Winter Olympics," added deBot.
When asked what's next for the three- peat champion Statesville- Mooresville
area, Melanie O'Connell Underwood of the Mooresville- South
Iredell Economic Development Corp. says that economic growth will only
continue.
Immediately on tap is a $750- million,
mixed- use project at Langtree Road and Interstate 77. A
new Embassy Suites Hotel and conference center is part of the development
that includes office space, condominiums, regional banks, distribution space
and a golf course.
"We already have 12 projects on tap for 2007,"
O'Connell Underwood says. "We're getting a lot of calls from
Indianapolis."
Mike Smith, director of the Greater Statesville Development
Corp., says the area's proximity to Charlotte and Lake Norman "adds a
significant aspect to our quality of life. We are only 45 minutes from
Charlotte Douglas International Airport, and there are 14 state parks within
a 45- mile drive from here."
Other assets for the area include Statesville Regional
Airport, which has a 7,000- ft. (2,134- m.) runway, the new Dana Rader Golf School at the
Statesville Country Club, and the historic Mitchell Community College.
"Our high school is undergoing a $12- million expansion, and there is a $14- million expansion at our airport," says Smith,
who recently moved from the North Carolina Department of Commerce in Raleigh
to take the economic developer post in Statesville. "We are receiving
improvements to U.S. Highway 70 that will connect 70 to Interstate 77, and
the Statesville Business Park offers an attractive location for business."
Top projects of 2006 in Statesville were Speedball
Art Products' $7- million manufacturing
expansion and JCP Logistics' $4- million
investment.
Like his counterpart O'Connell Underwood in Mooresville,
Smith expects an even busier year ahead for Statesville.
"Over 18,000 people actually leave Iredell County
every day to work in other counties," he notes. "That means there
is available labor here for companies. Many amazing opportunities are ahead
of us."
|
|
|
|
JLG's investment in Wooster, Ohio –
the No. 2 Top Micropolitan area for 2006 – was part of a string of small- town corporate projects that
helped the Buckeye State tally 20 Top Micros to lead the nation.
|
Bag packaging equipment maker Fischbein
expanded in Statesville in 2006.
|
|
|
|
What Makes North
Carolina So Competitive?
When it comes to luring large industrial plants to small
towns and second- and third- tier metropolitan areas, few
states do it better than North Carolina. But what makes North Carolina so
competitive?
Site Selection
posed that question to veteran site consultant and tax expert Tammy Propst, head of Greenville, S.C.- based Tax Advantage Group.
Here's what she had to say:
"North Carolina's history is built on manufacturing.
However, it has been apparent for decades that textile and tobacco jobs
were going to steadily decrease and that the outflow of those particular
jobs couldn't be stopped. So, why do communities compete so aggressively?
Good self- awareness
coupled with good planning," Propst says.
"Why do they win so often? I can't say taxes or
incentives or overall business- friendly climate for existing
industry, because North Carolina does have its issues. North Carolina is
transforming itself regionally. The solid bio- presence in Raleigh- Durham, the banking center in
Charlotte, and the tourism economy in the mountains give people who are not
from the South an environment where they can be comfortable."
When asked to sum up the state's best advantages, she
adds:
"North Carolina has an outstanding quality of life.
North Carolina has some level of business predictability, and North
Carolina is a Southern state that is not as 'Southern' as Mississippi,
Alabama or South Carolina."
|
|