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Ardagh Group Expands in Forsyth County, to Add 94 Jobs

The Ardagh Group, a global manufacturer of sustainable beverage packaging, will invest $195 million and create 94 new jobs in Forsyth County to expand its largest US can manufacturing facility. The project will add 2 new high-speed can manufacturing lines at the facility on Old Milwaukee Lane along with additional building improvements. Today’s announcement represents one of the largest capital investments in Forsyth County in a decade.

“This project forms part of Ardagh’s Group’s global $2.1 billion 2021-2024 business growth investment program and is being undertaken to meet fast-growing demand as consumers increasingly recognize the environmental and quality advantages of beverage cans,” said Claude Marbach, CEO, Ardagh Metal – Beverage North America. “Our products deliver high recycle and content rates, which support customer sustainability targets and contribute to a circular economy. This latest expansion in Winston-Salem is indicative of Ardagh’s consistent commitment to supporting customer growth.”

The expansion will create 94 new jobs with an average salary of 130% of the county’s average. The company currently has 230 local employees.

“Economic growth is all about providing increased opportunities for our community. We are proud to work with the Ardagh Group to not only meet their needs for a facility expansion, but also to meet their needs for the specialized talent they need to thrive and grow,” says Mark Owens, President and CEO of Greater Winston-Salem, Inc. “This project represents a significant economic investment that generates a substantial impact for our entire community in terms of workforce growth and corporate investment. It is a win for the community and the region as a whole.”

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Specialty fabrics maker from Brazil announces expansion in High Point

A global maker of non-woven specialty fabrics headquartered in Brazil has announced it will invest $18 million to expand its manufacturing facility in High Point and create as many as 22 new jobs.

Fitesa, whose North American headquarters is in Simpsonville, South Carolina, will install two new lines of machinery at its leased 204,172-square-foot building to make specialty fabrics for the health care industry. In September 2020, Fitesa acquired Fiber Dynamics, a High Point-based maker of meltblown and carded non-wovens for disinfectant wipes, filtration, face masks, automotive, medical, hygiene and other industrial wipes. Fitesa will continue making specialty fabrics to support the hygiene and health care industries at the High Point location.

The company’s facility is at 200 S. West Point Avenue, adjacent to High Point’s small-scale manufacturing target area and within one of the city’s three federally designated Opportunity Zones. High Point City Council previously authorized up to $342,720 in performance-based incentives. The new jobs will pay between $15 and $19 per hour depending on experience.

Fitesa currently employs 80 in High Point.

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DC BLOX Chooses High Point, North Carolina for $305 Million Data Center

DC BLOX, a provider of interconnected multi-tenant data centers that deliver the infrastructure and connectivity essential to power today’s digital business, announces that the company has acquired land in High Point, North Carolina with plans to construct the first highly secure, Tier III data center in the Carolina Core / Piedmont Triad region which includes High Point, Greensboro and Winston-Salem.

Company officials and the High Point Economic Development Corporation announced the project at the May 5, 2021 virtual meeting of the High Point EDC Board of Directors.

According to High Point Economic Development Interim Director Sandy Dunbeck, “DC BLOX has chosen High Point to build a multi-tenant data center that could add more than $305 million to our tax base, which is the largest capital investment project for High Point in the 15 years since I have been with the High Point EDC. We are grateful for the company’s confidence in our city and our community.”

High Point Mayor Jay Wagner said, “Throughout these last several months and over our many discussions, it has become clear to me that DC BLOX is a first-rate company. A company tagline is that DC BLOX is ‘serving locally, connecting globally’ – and we know the company will find High Point to be the perfect location to handle that mission.”

The company’s data centers have all the infrastructure needed by their clients – such as wiring, uninterruptible power supply systems, climate control systems, staffing, security measures, and network connectivity including public cloud access. The company’s multiple clients will put data processing equipment such as servers and affiliated equipment in the data center.

Melvin “Skip” Alston, the chair of the Guilford County Board of Commissioners, said, “We have been impressed by what the company pledges to do for the community. In one of its presentations to the commissioners, DC BLOX pledged to work to reduce the digital divide in underprivileged areas; provide technology support for non-profits and disadvantaged minority-owned businesses; and foster training and education for tomorrow’s technology workers.”

The carrier-neutral data center planned for the Carolina Core / Piedmont Triad region will be the first-of-its-kind in the market. When complete, the facility will be fully interconnected to DC BLOX’s Southeastern regional network of data centers and connectivity partners, including access to the region’s Internet Exchange (IX) at 56 Marietta in Atlanta and with plans to connect to the IX in Ashburn, Virginia. Direct, private access to major public cloud providers and to all carriers across its data center footprint are also provided. The facility will offer colocation for hosting primary IT infrastructure as well as secondary disaster recovery sites and provide infrastructure for large-scale object storage solutions.

When six “data halls” are completed in the building, capital investment could be more than $305 million.

  • more than $40 million of that amount would be in real property;
  • more than $9.6 million would be the personal property of DC BLOX; and
  • more than $255.4 million “induced customer investment” from the equipment of the client businesses of DC BLOX.

Public hearings were held in October 2020, at which both the High Point City Council and the Guilford County Board of Commissioners unanimously authorized performance-based incentives for the project. The Carolina Core is a region on the rise with companies across industries finding success thanks to the area’s skilled talent and affordability.

To learn more about DC BLOX, please visit www.dcblox.com. To learn more about the Carolina Core visit www.nccarolinacore.com.

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About DC BLOX

DC BLOX owns and operates interconnected multi-tenant data centers that deliver the infrastructure and connectivity essential to power today’s digital business. DC BLOX’s private network fabric and robust connectivity ecosystem enable access to built-in carriers, Internet exchanges, public cloud providers, and DC BLOX data centers to businesses across the Southeast. DC BLOX’s data centers are located in Atlanta, GA; Birmingham, AL; Huntsville, AL; Chattanooga, TN; and soon in Greenville, SC. For more information, please visit www.dcblox.com, call +1. 877.590.1684, and connect with DC BLOX on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook.

About the Carolina Core

A 120+ mile stretch of central North Carolina from west of Winston-Salem to Fayetteville and encompassing Greensboro and High Point, the Carolina Core is a region of globally competitive assets – a talent pool of more than 2 million people, access to 30+ colleges and universities with 250,000 students, multiple airports, four megasites totaling 7,200 acres of certified land, urban research parks and more. Purpose and vision are at the Core, with public and private leadership highly engaged on a vision for the future and more innovative companies locating and expanding in the Carolina Core every day. Learn more at NCCarolinaCore.com.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

NC Ranks Among Top States in Competitive Corporate Taxes

North Carolina ranks among the nation’s best-performing states overall in a study comparing state corporate tax costs across the country, according to a Tax Foundation report.
The distinctive study modeled eight different types of new and mature firms and analyzed what each would pay in state and local taxes in each state. North Carolina ranked third overall for lowest effective state tax rates for the new firms and fifth overall for the mature firms.
The study points out that “over the past decade, North Carolina has implemented historic tax reforms which involved, among other provisions, reductions in the state’s corporate income tax rate and paring back targeted tax incentives.” It also notes that North Carolina has the lowest corporate income tax rate in the country at 2.5%.
Some key findings of the report include:
A new corporate headquarters in North Carolina has very low income and property taxes, resulting in an effective rate of 7.1%, the lowest such rate in the country and 57% below the national median.
North Carolina ranks third for the mature corporate headquarters with an effective rate of 10.4%.
North Carolina’s low property taxes benefit the mature technology center, which experiences the fifth-lowest total effective rate for its firm type, as well as the mature distribution center, labor-intensive manufacturing operation, and shared services center, which all experience the fourth-lowest total effective rates for their firm types.
The new research and development facility faces average sales and unemployment insurance tax rates in North Carolina, and property taxes are notably lower than in most states.
Of all the firm types, data centers and new capital-intensive manufacturers experience the highest rates in North Carolina relative to other states.
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https://edpnc.com/nc-ranks-among-top-states-in-competitive-corporate-taxes/

CEO Survey Ranks NC as a Top 5 State for Business

North Carolina now ranks No. 4 among the nation’s top-performing states in the 2021 Best and Worst States for Business survey conducted by Chief Executive magazine.
For the latest report, Chief Executive surveyed 383 CEOs across the country in March about their opinions of all 50 states.
“Our top-tier ranking in the Chief Executive magazine survey is more great news, right on the heels of Apple announcing North Carolina as the home of its first East Coast campus, which will bring $1 billion in new investment and 3,000 new jobs to the state,” said Christopher Chung, chief executive officer of the Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina.
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