As Bill Clinton’s adviser James Carville told him often during the 1992 presidential campaign, “It’s the economy, stupid!”
We’ll leave off the “stupid,” but as any leader in the county will tell you, improving Burke County’s economy is an essential task.
The county needs more and better-paying jobs so that workers can afford to buy houses, cars, and support local merchants at every level.
The county needs new industries, industries that will not only provide those jobs, but will also help lift the property tax burden off homeowners and support the municipalities that will provide them with utilities such as water, sewer, and electricity.
And, the county needs prosperous parents whose children will fill the public schools, reducing the alarming decline in our student population and the attendant drop in state funding.
We at The Paper recognize just how important economic growth is, so it was indeed an easy decision to include the economy as one of our Top 10 stories of the year.
As 2025 neared its end, solid reasons existed for optimism about Burke County’s economic future.
Work was nearing completion on the clearing and preparation of a 100-acre site in Drexel that, thanks to its proximity to the railroad, is an excellent potential location for one or more industries.
Ground was broken in mid-December for a new $9.2 million industrial shell building in the previously underutilized Burke Business Park, located just off I-40 west of Morganton.
Work has begun off the Fleming Drive Bypass in Morganton on the new Innovation Campus for The Industrial Commons, a $40 million-plus endeavor.
And, earlier this year, a new Intensive Care Unit opened in the new six-story, 220,560-square-foot patient tower on the campus of UNC Health Blue Ridge in Morganton.
A new and expanded Emergency Department had opened in the new tower, which includes a rooftop helipad to support faster trauma care, in September of 2024.
On a darker note, however, the N.C. Department of Commerce announced in late November that Burke is on the list of counties dropping from Tier 2 to Tier 1 on the economic distress scale.
Normally, being ranked No. 1 is good, but in this case, it indicates regression.
Each year, the Department of Commerce ranks all 100 counties on a scale of 1 to 3 for economic distress. Tier 1 counties are the most distressed, while Tier 3 counties are the least distressed.
Counties are ranked based on unemployment rate, median household income, population growth, and assessed property value per capita, according to the state Department of Commerce.
Tier designations determine a county’s eligibility for various N.C. Department of Commerce grant programs.
Counties that fell from higher tiers were Burke (Tier 2 to Tier 1), Buncombe (3 to 2), Granville (3 to 2), Haywood (3 to 2), Henderson (3 to 2), Jones (2 to 1), Madison (2 to 1), Pasquotank (2 to 1), and Yancey (2 to 1). Among those, Burke, Buncombe, Haywood, Henderson, Madison, and Yancey were notably impacted by Hurricane Helene in September 2024.
But, to look at reasons for optimism:
Drexel Site
Mayor Dennis Anthony said the project has been his top priority since he joined the board of aldermen 10 years ago. The same is true, he said, for his colleagues who served on the board during that time. Town Manager Bill Carroll echoed his sentiment, having grown up in southern Burke County and returning home to work for Drexel after graduate school.
“This project here is the reason why I wanted to come back home and come to Drexel,” Carroll said. “Not many towns have such a transformational potential with an economic development project.”
Carroll noted that the site, when developed, could potentially increase the town’s electric revenue ninefold and double the town’s general fund tax base.
Bringing industry back to Drexel is of utmost importance. Drexel Heritage Furniture elevated the small town into a leading manufacturer of traditional and modern furniture.
People traveled from all over the world to visit the company’s showroom in Drexel, and its furniture, made by the hands of generations of Drexel and Burke County residents, was in various hotels, the U.S. State Department, and government agencies across the world.
After the plant closed in 2001, the site has been sitting and waiting for something new. That something, Carroll said, could equate to 400-500 new jobs for Drexel and Burke County residents.
Shell building
County officials broke ground at the site in the Burke Business Park in mid-December. The building is funded by money originally earmarked for the Great Meadows megasite project.
The shell building will be a preconstructed facility designed to attract companies that seek to quickly start operations without building from scratch. The design is flexible, enabling a buyer to expand it from 100,000 square feet to 180,000 square feet.
County Manager Brian Epley said that the business park is a critical asset to the county, because “it is one of our only marketable tools for economic development.”
“Burke County has largely struggled and lagged behind in the world of economic development in the region,” Epley said previously. “Our GDP (gross domestic product) is less today than it was in 2017 (and) our workforce has contracted. We haven’t, as a county, done a good enough job of reinventing ourselves after the exodus of textiles and furniture.”
The business park, located at Kathy Road (exit 96) and Interstate 40, was purchased about 25 years ago, Epley said, and is not solely the county’s property. The 83-acre industrial park is owned in partnership by the county, the City of Morganton, the Town of Valdese, the Town of Drexel, and the Town of Rutherford College.
Currently, the only other building in the park is a 95% complete location for Unix Packaging. Epley said the business park has grown slowly because at the time of its purchase, there was no investment into vital infrastructure such as water, sewer, and gas.
Charlotte-based contractor Matthews Construction was awarded the $9,231,000 bid for the spec building in mid-October.
New Industrial Commons Campus
Ground was ceremonially broken in mid-June for the first building to be constructed on The Industrial Commons (TIC) new Innovation Campus, on East Fleming Drive in Morganton.
The 28-acre site was previously home to Drexel Furniture Plants 3&5, but will now be the location for The Accelerator, a 43,000-square-foot facility designed to house small and midsize firms working in textile and furniture manufacturing.
The keynote speaker for the ceremony was Gayle Manchin, federal co-chair of the Appalachian Regional Commission and the wife of former West Virginia Gov. and U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin.
Completion of The Accelerator is targeted for some time in 2027. The new building will also serve as a hub for skilled trades education and home to the N.C. Textile Innovation and Sustainability Engine.
The new campus will also include space for the main offices of TIC well as space for worker training and education facilities, and a creative area for the display of community art.
Eventually, the on-campus buildings will be surrounded by nearly 8 acres of public parks, walking trails, outdoor gathering areas, and gardens.
In addition, future plans call for a 10-acre community housing site to be developed adjacent to the campus — a site that would provide easy walking access to the Morganton Farmers Market and to all of downtown.
Services expand at UNC Health Blue Ridge tower
The new Emergency Department (ED) floor, located in the six-story tower, is more than triple the size of the old one at 39,721 square feet.
The ED has 29 exam rooms, including four trauma rooms with the latest life-saving equipment to stabilize patients.
The new ICU floor, almost five times larger than the old one, boasts 30 beds. The old space had 16. The rooms are spacious and accommodate life-saving equipment. There is ample space for visiting family members with a sleeper sofa and recliner. Three rooms are specifically designed for bariatric patients.
The opening of the new Emergency Department and Intensive Care Unit also led indirectly to the hospital’s designation this year as a Level III trauma center.
According to the NC Office of Emergency Services, which administers the designation, a Level III trauma center provides prompt assessment, resuscitation, emergency operations, and stabilization for patients with traumatic injuries. They also arrange for transfer to a facility that can provide definitive trauma care when needed. Level III centers typically serve communities that may not have easy access to a Level I or II center, offering a critical role in many areas.
— BP
