Economic Development Successes & Initiatives

Quality of Life
Commercial
Residential

Commercial

• November 2005 – Haas CNC Racing will build a 140,000 square foot racing facility on 23 acres in the Kannapolis Gateway Business Park. The investment is projected at $16 million, and the facility could create more than 70 jobs over the next several years. With this land purchase, only 5 developable acres remain in the Park.

• September 2005 – MarkPiercePoole, Inc. purchased land in the Gateway Park and will move forward in the spring of 2006 with a 57,600 square foot industrial spec building.

• September 2005 – David Murdock, owner of Dole Foods and Castle & Cooke, Inc., announces plans for the North Carolina Research Campus in downtown Kannapolis.

• July 2005 – Merrifield Partners, Crosland, and the partners of Kellswater Bridge Development announce plans to build Kellswater Commons, a commercial development on the Kannapolis Parkway. The group plans to invest $80 to $90 million on the project, which will include retail, office/medical space, and townhouses.

• June 2005 – Gem Marble and Granite, a high-end stone fabricator, picked Kannapolis and built a new 10,000 square foot facility that created 7 -10 jobs immediately and could spur more job creation in the future

• May 9, 2005 – Golden Gait Trailers (GGT) receives an incentive grant of $ 57,235.32 from the City to relocate its headquarters to the Hwy 73 Corridor. The relocation to Kannapolis is projected to create 20 new jobs immediately and 70 over the course of several years.

• April 25, 2005 -- MarkPiercePoole Properties, Inc. purchases 12.8 acres of land in the Kannapolis Gateway Business Park from the City of Kannapolis . The Kannapolis City Council approves the deal for a price of $1,835,317. The commercial development firm plans to build a neighborhood retail center on the property.

• April 2005 - Renaissance Square, a development that will include a Northeast Medical Center clinic as well as out parcels for retail, office and restaurant use, is announced.

• January 6, 2005 - City Council launches the Kannapolis Motorsports Commission. This group of community leaders is charged with developing strategies to encourage economic development and tourism initiatives that will help the city promote and recruit motorsports related industries and events to Kannapolis.
  
  
• December 10, 2004- Chairman and CEO of Castle & Cooke, Inc., David Murdock, wins the bid for the former Pillowtex Plant 1 site in downtown Kannapolis. Plans for the redevelopment of the five million square foot facility and 135 acres are nearly complete. Castle & Cooke also own former Pillowtex Plant 4, Kannapolis Country Club, numerous residential properties and Cannon Village. Castle & Cooke and its affiliated companies operate in over 25 states with diverse businesses that include real estate, manufacture of brick and ownership of public warehouses and chassis and generator set leasing services. Castle & Cooke, through all of its holdings, employs over 60,000 people.
  
  
• October 11, 2004- City Council approves a development agreement with MarkPiercePoole Properties, Inc., the Charlotte firm partnering with Kannapolis to develop Kannapolis Gateway Business Park. MarkPiercePoole will construct a second shell building in Kannapolis Gateway Business Park., with initial plans for a 50,000 square foot building on approximately four acres fronting NC Hwy 73. The building will be suited for manufacturing or distribution operations.
  
  
• July 7, 2004- Broke ground on Cottonwood/Arbor Lane Investment Group's 50-acre, second phase of the NorthLite Shopping Center. The first phase opened at I-85, exit 60 in August 2003. The shopping center is anchored by a Super Wal-Mart, Kohl's Department Store and Sam's Club.
  
  
• June 14, 2004- Novant Health leases a 57,600 square foot shell building in the city-owned Kannapolis Gateway Business Park from MarkPiercePoole Properties, Inc. Novant will use the building as a consolidated service center. Novant's distribution operation will employ 45 people.
  
  
• May 6, 2004- Celebrated the completion of a $14 million renovation of the water treatment plant to increase water capacity and utilize new technology.
  
  
• March 2004- A high-end furniture maker buys the 111,720 square foot former Terry Products Building for a manufacturing facility that will bring 125 jobs.
  
  
• January 12, 2004- Stanley Works receives a 75 percent property tax rebate for five years totaling $233,384 from the City of Kannapolis to expand their 625,000 square foot distribution center, already Stanley's largest, by 300,000 square feet and hire 120 new employees. Cabarrus County provided a similar incentive for five years equaling $233,635.
  
  
• December 16, 2003- Childress Klein, one of the leading development companies in the southeast, announces an $11 million purchase of 275 acres of land at I-85 and the Kannapolis Parkway for a new complex with 2.5 million square feet of flex office, warehouse and distribution space and 400,000 square feet for retail development. The business park is expected to bring an investment of $140 million and create 2,800 jobs over the next decade.
  
  
• February 2003- Completed a comprehensive land use plan to guide future development. This plan is flexible and is periodically updated by City Council.
  
  
• September 2002- Approved a $22 million dollar, multi-year infrastructure improvement plan to add and replace water and sewer lines, add sidewalks, curb and gutter and resurface streets throughout the city.
  
  
• November 2001-Adopted a unified development zoning ordinance (UDO) along with the City of Concord and the towns of Harrisburg and Mt. Pleasant to provide high-quality development standards for commercial and industrial development, including specific corridor standards along the City's busiest and most visible thoroughfares.