Duke Energy selects RTP site, 8 others for NC economic development program

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Eno Venture Park is one of nine sites selected by Duke Energy as a part of the 2021 Site Readiness Program, which prepares business and industrial sites for potential economic development investments.

Duke Energy said the 160-acre Eno Venture Park located on Hamlin Road in north Durham was “a tremendous site well-suited to life science and advanced manufacturing.”

The site is zoned for light industrial use and consists of four parcels with five points of access, including a section with frontage along Old Oxford Road, according to a brochure prepared by Geo 5 Designs for Commercial Realty Advisors. It’s described as being within half an hour of the Raleigh-Durham Airport, as well as Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill.

The brochure also describes the site as “giving good access to utilities from either direction.”

That’s what Duke Energy’s program is all about: getting selected sites ready for development.

The Charlotte-headquartered utility noted in its statement that it partners with local economic development officials and officials “to develop a strategy for getting the sites fully ready to market to industrial projects.”

“We are seeing a significant increase in project activity across the Carolinas, and demand for qualified industrial sites has never been stronger,” said Stu Heishman, Duke Energy’s vice president of economic development and business recruitment.  “Our team will continue to work with local and regional partners to aggressively advance the readiness of our prime industrial sites.”

In addition to Eno Venture Park, the utility company selected the below sites in North Carolina for the 2021 program:

  • Catawba County – Hunsucker Crossing
  • Guilford County – Brittway II Industrial Site
  • Harnett County – Byrd Site
  • Henderson County – Hudgens Site
  • Jones-Craven County – Weyerhaeuser Property
  • Randolph County – Wall Brothers Property
  • Rowan County – Mid-South Industrial Park Building
  • Rowan County – NC Finishing Site

According to Duke Energy, the program has helped prepare 136 properties in North Carolina.  Those properties have attracted 35 “major projects” since 2005, the utility said in its statement.  The utility stated that these major projects involved 6,500 new jobs and about $7.5 billion in investment in North Carolina.

Original Source: WRAL TechWire