FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 11, 2022
Contact: Kim Hasty, Director of Communications
Phone: 910-500-6402
Email: kim@fayedc.com

Golden LEAF Awards $937,600 for Development Project at Cumberland County-Owned Sand Hill Road Site
Funding will be used to clear a 30-acre parcel on 159 acres, resulting in an attractive site for companies and industries with aggressive timelines.

FAYETTEVILLE, NC – The Golden LEAF Foundation Board of Directors recently awarded $937,600 to Cumberland County to be used for clearing and rough grading a 30-acre portion of the Cumberland County-owned Sand Hill Road Site.

“We are happy that our partnership with FCEDC continues to benefit our community,” said Cumberland County Manager Amy Cannon. “We look forward to building on this momentum and to the rewarding careers this opportunity will bring to our citizens.”

Industrially zoned, the Sand Hill Road Site consists of 159 acres located between Interstate 95 and N.C. 87.

“Once complete, this will enable us to market the site as shovel-ready and be able to facilitate projects with aggressive timelines,” said Fayetteville Cumberland Economic Development Corporation executive vice president Rob Patton. “This grant directly fits into our strategy of developing choice business sites, parks, and buildings that will attract quality employers. We greatly appreciate the County for applying and supporting our efforts.”

Cumberland County was awarded the funding through the second round of Golden LEAF’s SITE Program. The SITE Program supports communities in identifying potential sites for economic development and provides funds to enable completion of due diligence on sites already identified or to extend public utilities to or conduct rough grading and clearing of sites for which due diligence has been completed. The three phases of the SITE Program are Identification, Due Diligence, and Development. Cumberland was one of seven counties awarded funding through the Development phase.

The funding is used to benefit sites that have completed the due diligence necessary to demonstrate that the site is suitable for development.

“The need for industrial sites, especially in rural areas, was a gap identified in our strategic planning process,” said Don Flow, Golden LEAF Board Chair. “As we have seen, ready sites are no longer a luxury but a necessity to move at the speed of business. The second round of SITE Program projects will help prepare North Carolina for these economic growth opportunities.”

The Golden LEAF Foundation Board of Directors awarded $5,046,526 in funding for 13 projects through the Golden LEAF SITE Program in Moore, Wilkes, Stokes, Martin, Surry, Robeson, Cumberland, Duplin, Onslow, Nash, Person, Rutherford, and Columbus counties.

Since 1999, Golden LEAF has funded 2,011 projects totaling $1.18 billion supporting the mission of advancing economic opportunity in North Carolina’s rural, tobacco-dependent, and economically distressed communities.

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About Golden LEAF: The Golden LEAF Foundation is a nonprofit organization established in 1999 to receive a portion of North Carolina’s funding from the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement with cigarette manufacturers. For more than 20 years, Golden LEAF has worked to increase economic opportunity in North Carolina’s rural and tobacco-dependent communities through leadership in grantmaking, collaboration, innovation, and stewardship as an independent and perpetual foundation. The Foundation has provided lasting impact to tobacco-dependent, economically distressed, and rural areas of the state by helping create 66,000 jobs, more than $700 million in new payrolls, and more than 90,000 workers trained or retrained for higher wages. For more information about Golden LEAF and our programs, please visit our website at www.goldenLEAF.org.

About FCEDC: The Fayetteville Cumberland County Economic Development Corporation is a public-private partnership designed to enhance job growth and prosperity in the region by attracting new industry and growing and retaining existing industry. FCEDC works daily to help strengthen our economy and diversify our community tax base. Successful projects would not be possible without the ongoing support of the City of Fayetteville, Cumberland County, and community partners. Learn more at www.fayedc.com.