Everything is harder in Caldwell County but business leaders see mood shifting

Kevin Griffin – Hickory Daily Record

Aug 4, 2023

hen it comes to development in Caldwell County, there are a number of factors that make things difficult.

County Manager Donald Duncan offers a football analogy. In a normal football game, a team has to get 10 yards for the first down. Duncan said Caldwell County has to go farther.

“It’s first and 12. It’s not first and 10 in Caldwell County,” Duncan said. “Everything is harder. Everything is more difficult. Whether it’s funding schools, whether it’s building, roads, communities, you name it because our tax base is that much less.”

Duncan noted Caldwell County’s tax base is challenged because about 22% of the county’s land is part of a national forest or other protected areas.

That’s one issue, but Duncan points to some others, as well. The hilly topography of the county, especially as Caldwell rises toward the town of Blowing Rock, can make finding locations for development difficult. All the easy sites — those with the right amount of land and access to utilities and infrastructure, among other factors — are taken.

Infrastructure is another concern. Much of it is old, he said, and the upkeep of water and sewer systems is necessary. Duncan credited the CARES Act passed during the COVID-19 pandemic with providing needed funding for addressing some of those needs.

Duncan also pointed to the cost. He lamented the fact that infrastructure was not built under U.S. 321 when the highway was constructed. The work would have been less costly then, he said. Duncan estimates the cost now is about $1,000 per foot.

Like other areas of the region, the question of how to grow and develop is of critical importance because of negative population trends and projections.

The county lost nearly 2,400 people between the 2010 and 2020 censuses. Over the next 20 years, the county’s population is expected to remain largely flat, according to information from the N.C. State Demographer.

Amid all these challenges, the county is looking for ways to capitalize on what they have.

One of the biggest initiatives now is the development of Evergreene. Duncan said it is the first industrial park developed as a partnership between the county and a municipality — in this case, the town of Sawmills.

He said the county has already received interest in the 30-acre site off U.S. 321 Alternate.

“All we’ve done is done rough grading — not even rough grading, removing the organic materials off the site — and then we already have customers,” Duncan said. “I’m not even sure we’ll get to the spec building stage. Not for lack of trying but for more of the demand in the market may snatch it up before we even get a building built.”

Caldwell County Economic Development Director Ashley Bolick said the county is looking at other industrial opportunities, as well. She said the county is currently working with the Western Piedmont Council of Governments to survey potential industrial properties in Caldwell County.

The area around the Foothills Regional Airport is of particular interest to county and regional leaders. Bolick said Caldwell County, along with Lenoir, Burke County and Morganton, are conducting a feasibility and marketing study for more than 800 acres of land near the airport.

“There are some limitations there with water and sewer and gas. I mean, we’re kind of at the end of the line for everybody,” Bolick said. “So, what’s the best use of that land and who should we be marketing that property to?”

She said the traditional industries of furniture and textiles remain important for the economy even if they are not operating at the same scale they once did. She also said some of the most noteworthy development in the last decade has taken place in newer industries such as pharmaceuticals.

Bolick gave the example of Exela Pharma Sciences. The Lenoir company grew from 12 workers to more than 600 employees. “The expansion of pharma sciences in Caldwell County as an employment sector has probably been one of our greatest achievements in the last decade,” Bolick said.

The county has also seen some good news recently where Merchants Distributors Inc., the county’s largest employer, is concerned. In 2020, MDI announced a $120 million expansion that would create at least 111 jobs. Earlier this year, the grocery wholesale company committed to an additional 125 jobs.

The company has entered into incentive agreements with Hickory and other local governments for these expansions.

Feeling of rebirth

Jesse Plaster, 50, has lived all but about 15 years of his life in Caldwell County. He has roots in the community. He says his mother lives in his greatgrandfather’s home.

Plaster notes the dark times in Caldwell County where the loss of furniture jobs and the 2008 recession led to what he calls “a countywide depression.”

He says the mood is different now.

“The feeling I get now is that, I feel a rebirth in the community,” Plaster said.

“I’m also active downtown. I do a lot of redevelopment work there myself, and I’m seeing a renewed interest in the downtown. I feel like people are more optimistic now than they have been for the last 10 to 15 years.”

Plaster, an architect by trade, has been involved in several renovations of historic downtown buildings along with business partner Angela Postigo.

Postigo, 46, moved to Morganton from San Francisco in 2017.

She was working for WilliamsSonoma and nearing her retirement from the company when she decided she was looking for a slower pace of living. She had come to know about North Carolina after spending time in the state as part of her job.

Postigo echoes Plaster when it comes to the sense of optimism in Caldwell County, saying she has talked to locals who have come around to have

a more positive view of the community.

Plaster and Postigo entered the hospitality industry in late 2021 when they opened Happy Valley Filling Station brewery and pizzeria.

A Dollar General discount store had shown interest in the site. Plaster and Postigo said they thought the business was a bad fit for the area. Wanting to open a business that could serve as a sort of community hub, they made an offer on the land and were ultimately successful in buying it.

They said they have seen growth in the business since it began and noted that residents from surrounding counties have patronized the establishment.

Carolina Precision

Farther south in the Sawmills community of Caldwell County, Carolina Precision Components Chairman Randy Walker also voiced optimism about the county.

Like Plaster, Walker, 71, is a Caldwell County native who has spent all but a few years of his life there.

He started Carolina Precision Components, which manufactures a wide range of parts and components for industry, in 1995. The business was originally located near Drexel and moved to its Sawmills location in 2007.

Carolina Precision Components produces parts for the construction equipment, industrial machinery, material handling and telecommunications industries out of a 63,000-square-foot facility.

Walker said the company makes parts “as small as the tip of your finger to parts that can weigh over a ton.”

While the company has often had difficulty finding employees already trained in the specific computer numerical control machines the company uses, he said the manufacturing focus of the area has allowed him to find good people he can train.

Walker also noted a bit of concern with the economy, saying some of his clients have seen a slowdown in demand while others are being more cautious. He attributes this to rising interest rates and trends in the broader economy. Even so, Walker said he has been able to keep the 45 employees who currently work for the company.

When it comes to local leadership, however, Walker has strong praise.

“I have the idea that our county leadership and our state leadership want to help me, want to help Carolina Precision Components,” Walker said. “They’re not trying to be a hindrance, they’re trying to be a helpmate in us providing good jobs for people and growing good, clean, environmentally responsible jobs.”

Looking forward

Walker said one area of concern for him involves finding ways to interest young people in the fields of manufacturing, machining, welding and related trades.

“Those kind of things, they’re not attracting as many high school students as they once did. So that does concern me,” Walker said. “I’m not blaming anybody for it, and I don’t know what the answer is, but we need to get the word out that there’s great careers in some of the trade skills.”

Duncan is of like mind when it comes to need to maintain Caldwell County’s manufacturing heritage. Making stuff, Duncan said, is simply part of the area’s DNA. He said ensuring that the area’s young people are vested in the county’s economy is a major priority.

Duncan recalled a conversation with leaders from Caldwell Community College & Technical Institute and the Caldwell County school system.

“I said, ‘Our goal, unequivocally, is that we have about 1,100 students, 1,200 students graduate high school a year, every year. Half of those need to be engaged in this economy before they walk across this stage. They have to be in apprenticeships, internships or already working

somewhere so they understand that that is what pays the bills.’”