Nash County Economic Development recaps a prosperous 2021 and plans for continued growth in 2022.

Nash County enjoyed a substantial increase in jobs and economic activity despite continued impacts from the pandemic throughout 2021 and a new growing disruption to global supply chains thanks to new existing business expansions and new businesses locating to the county. Nash County economic development officials quickly point out that much of the success is the county’s proactive global approach to attracting new business, its low cost to do business and strategic location between the Research Triangle and I-95.

The Crump Group, a Canadian company and manufacturer of all-natural pet treats and supplements, identified Nash County for its first U.S. operations when it purchased the former 190,000 square foot Carolina Innovative Food Ingredients (CIFI) property in Nashville creating 160 new jobs. “The Crump Group location is truly a statement of Made in the USA with the company’s use of local grown sweet potatoes as a part of their tremendous success,” said Andy Hagy, Director of Economic Development.

SinnovaTek, a Raleigh-based leading developer and integrator of advanced food processing equipment and technology, purchased the county-owned 62,500 square foot shell building located in the 340-acre Middlesex Corporate Centre, creating a total of 50 new jobs and 75 over the next five years.

“The SinnovaTek decision is a significant achievement for their company and Nash County. This is the second food processing company to select Nash County within six months, joining Nash’s growing food cluster, and confirms the county’s excellent strategic location for food processing companies,” said Hagy. An official announcement and groundbreaking is forthcoming, next month.

Cummins Inc., a mid-range diesel and natural gas engine plant, announced a strategic, multimillion-dollar investment totaling $42 million and retaining 30 jobs. “It is always a compliment to a community to see one of its longtime and largest employers to commit to such a large investment in our county,” said Hagy. Cummins is a major employer of Nash County with more than 1,800 people employed at the Nash location.

Notable accomplishments from 2021 include:

• 303 new jobs announced with a total new capital investment of over $142 million for Nash County.

• 30% increase in new residential dwellings and development from 2020, with 505 new dwellings, for a total investment over $94.5 million.

• County was awarded $1.2 million in economic development grants, including $750,000 CDBG building reuse grant for The Crump Group; $400,000 in rural building reuse funds for SinnovaTek and $50,000 from The Golden LEAF Foundation through the new SITE development program. The Golden LEAF funds will be used to complete due diligence work on a one-million square foot pad-ready site in the Middlesex Corporate Centre located on U.S. 264 and within minutes of the Research Triangle.

• Generated an extensive pipeline of 85 active projects equally through businesses contacting the county directly and the Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina (EDPNC), as well as the Research Triangle Regional Partnership which Nash County is a member. The new projects spanned across many industry sectors and could bring a potential capital investment of $6.7 billion dollars and 16,000 new jobs to Nash County.

• Nash County Economic Development Team’s aggressive and pro-active marketing campaign received a 2021 Southern Economic Development Council Communications Award for their efforts in partnership with local and regional partners and WRAL Digital Solutions. The Select Nash campaign has reached over 100,000 people and businesses online and generates continued interest in the county as a place to live, work and play. Businesses and partners can learn more about the campaign and Nash County at www.selectnashnc.com.

“We are excited that national, international and Raleigh-based companies selected Nash County as their home in 2021 and our local industrial base is expanding. What’s even more exciting is we are anticipating and working on more announcements and new jobs in 2022,” said Hagy.