Dirt moving, incentives approved for rumored Amazon distribution center in Fayetteville
City and county officials on Monday agreed to provide up to $2.5 million in incentives to help attract a distribution facility to Fayetteville.
The facility, code named "Project Bronco" by economic development officials, would create 500 jobs paying at least $15 an hour, involve a minimum investment of $100 million by an unidentified company and generate $500,000 in property taxes and $16 million in annual wages.
Sources have told WRAL News that the company involved is likely Amazon.
The facility is slated for the Military Industrial Park, near Interstate 295 close to Fort Bragg.
For years, much of the industrial park has sat idle, but equipment began moving dirt on the site a few weeks ago.
"There is a developer, Ryan Company, that is being very aggressive about preparing a site for a client, but as of today, the property has not changed hands," said Robert van Geons, president of Cumberland County Economic Development. "We're considering incentives, and later on this week, we hope to clear up a few other regulatory issues that would make the site suitable a client or multiple clients to be able to build there."
Officials said the incentives are related to an infrastructure problem that recently arose at the site. Fayetteville and Cumberland County have each committed up to $1.25 million to help resolve the issue, and officials said the taxpayer funds would be spent only if the company has already spent $5 million of its own money trying to fix it.
Amazon is already transforming an old warehouse on Dunn Road in Fayetteville into a delivery station, which is set to open early next year.
The Military Industrial Park would provide space for a major distribution hub with easy interstate access.
"You are just two exits away from (Interstate) 40 north and south, and also with interstate quality roads now to connect to points west," van Geons said.
"What's unique here is how compressed timelines have become," he added. "Folks [are] pulling permits before they even have a contract on property, and I think that says exactly how fast a community has to be prepared to respond when opportunity knocks."
Fayetteville's workforce also could be attractive to a company like Amazon. Fayetteville Technical Community College has a program that teaches soldiers how to drive trucks as a possible transition into a good-paying civilian job.
"We've been a work in progress for some time," van Geons said, "from the investments we've made in quality of life to our proximity to our business-friendly environment here and to our affordable and skilled labor – that being probably our greatest driver: our talent."
