Greensboro-High Point ranks No. 1 for new and expanded corporate facilities

March 21, 2015

The Greensboro-High Point metropolitan area ranked No. 1 in the nation for new and expanded corporate facilities during 2014 for regions of its size, according to Site Selection magazine.

The Georgia-based publication's ranking is for metro regions with a population of between 200,000 and 1 million. Projects must involve a capital investment of at least $1 million, create at least 20 new jobs or add at least 20,000 square feet of new floor area.

North Carolina, meanwhile, improved its ranking to No. 4 from No. 7 in Site Selection's Governor's Cup competition for the states most active in corporate recruitment and expansion in 2014.

 
Greensboro-High Point, a metro area that includes Guilford, Randolph, and Rockingham counties, had 41 projects in 2014. Nine of those were in High Point, including four of the five largest job announcements: APAC Customer Servicewith 850 jobs, Heritage Home Group with 300 jobs, Thomas Built Buses with 236 jobs and BuzziSpace with 113 jobs.

Guilford County accounted for 23 projects in all, and Randolph County accounted for 15. Randolph and Guilford shared one project that straddled the county line — the Thomas Built Buses expansion— and Rockingham County had two projects.

High Point Mayor Bill Bencini said in a statement: "We are proud that our city had nearly one-quarter of the MSA's qualifying projects while leading the way in job creation."

Loren Hill, president of the High Point Economic Development Corp., noted that not all of High Point is located in the Greensboro-High Point MSA.

Although High Point's largest capital investment project of 2014 was a new Ralph Lauren facility that will be located in the High Point part of Forsyth County, "It was not counted in the No. 1 ranking," Hill said.

Source: Triad Business Journal