Project Ice Bear part of economic development moves

The Burke County Commissioners added honey to the pot on Sept. 21, when they voted unanimously to approve an incentive package for “Project Ice Bear,” an unidentified company that’s expected to bring 37 jobs and nearly $17 million in total capital investment to the county.

Burke is competing with a location in Mississippi for the project, and county officials hope the estimated $87,270 in reimbursements for taxes paid over a three-year period will sweeten the deal enough to land the business on the eastern side of the county.

The reimbursements will come in the form of annual grants — 40% of whatever the company paid in taxes through the year — and are contingent upon the ad valorem tax revenues collected by the local government based on a property’s assessed value.

“It’s instantly self-correcting,” Burke Development Inc. (BDI) President and CEO Brandon Ruppe said, explaining that the tax reimbursement may fluctuate outside of that $87,270 total range should the company pay more in taxes, and less should it underperform. “We’ve set a minimum threshold. If they do not meet a minimum threshold, the incentive is null and void, anyway.”

Ruppe told the board that the code-named project plans to develop a 60,000-square-foot facility on the land of the Hickory Airport, with plans to employ 37 people at an average annual salary of $64,716.

“Project Ice Bear does represent a manufacturing company that is family-owned,” Ruppe said. “They make high-end metal precision parts that are custom-made for certain industry sectors that require a high level of precision. Their tolerances are an incredible amount smaller than the (width of a) human hair. … (They’re) really high-end, highly skilled manufacturing positions.”

Code names are often used in economic development to protect the identity of the company, either through legal precedent or negotiation preferences.

According to Ruppe, “Confidential information that is spread prior to a company’s final location decision is very likely to result in the loss of the project for Burke County entirely.”

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT WITHIN THE COUNTY

Just a month earlier, Ruppe approached the board for a similar incentive package for “Project Arlington,” a point-of-purchase manufacturing company considering a former textile mill in Valdese that has been vacant for nearly 25 years.

The unnamed company is choosing between Burke County and a location in Virginia. Burke approved a 50% annual reimbursement package for four years — an approximate total of $61,000 — should the facility choose to come here.

“I’m excited that we’ve now done this two months in a row, and I’m optimistic that there will be a third coming,” County Manager Brian Epley told the board on Sept. 21. “I feel confident in saying that the board’s top area in public policy and top priority area has been economic development and I’m encouraged by that. I think that there’s a chance that there are more jobs and capital investment in the next six months than there’s been in this county in the last two decades.”

Burke County officials have spent the last several years pursuing economic growth, whether it be through the allocation of the Great Meadows Megasite or the development of shell buildings to accommodate incoming businesses that want to skip the heavy lifting of building development.

While the first 100,000-square-foot shell building is under construction, Burke County issued a second request for proposals in August to develop a 65,000-square-foot building in the same area, citing growing demand for smaller spaces — a trend Ruppe said appears to be continuing.

“Construction of the current 101,494-square-foot shell building is nearing completion, and BDI has additional funds available for future shell-building development,” Ruppe said in a later email. “Leveraging those funds to construct a second, smaller building would allow us to broaden Burke County’s industrial real estate portfolio and cast a wider net, increasing our ability to attract a diverse range of companies with varying facility requirements.”

Ruppe has said for months that manufacturing is an important part of Burke County’s heritage, and the aim of BDI is to build on those roots through strategic development and marketing for companies.

The trick, he explained, is making sure Burke has the “right industrial product available at the right time,” a sentiment that Epley echoed during the commissioners’ meeting.

“We’ve been really focused on the right type of projects in the right place at the right pace,” Epley said on Monday night. “Our labor shed and markets seem to be a really good fit for advanced manufacturing in small to mid-size companies.”

As for locations that have seemingly gone quiet, like the Great Meadows megasite, Ruppe said plans are in motion to get community stakeholders involved and gather public input on which direction they should take related projects.

“With a property of this scale, our responsibility is to look beyond simply finding the largest possible user,” Ruppe said. “We want to attract companies whose operations, investment, and workforce needs align with Burke County and whose presence would contribute positively to the community. The Great Meadows megasite is a significant community asset, and we take that responsibility seriously.”