NC backs future Fayetteville and Wilson plants promising hundreds of jobs

Two projects, a titanium recycling plant and a pet health care facility, received millions in potential economic incentives Tuesday to create more than 500 combined jobs in a pair of North Carolina cities.

American Titanium Metal promises to bring 304 jobs to a future 500,000-square-foot, three-building complex in Fayetteville. The company plans to spend $868 million on the site by the end of 2027. Most of what is produced there will be from recycled titanium material.

“Titanium is mission-critical to the U.S. aerospace manufacturing supply chain,” said Mark Poole, director of commerce finance at the North Carolina Department of Commerce.

American Titanium Metal says average wages at the plant will be at least $123,476.

Poole noted during a meeting of the N.C. Economic Investment Committee on Tuesday that Fayetteville landed the project over competing sites in Georgia and Texas. The committee approved the state incentives.

If it achieves its hiring and investment goals, American Titanium Metal will enjoy $8 million in payroll tax benefits through the state’s job development investment grant. North Carolina’s total incentive package is $20.3 million after factoring in additional incentives through community college training, the N.C. Department of Transportation and the Golden LEAF Foundation, among other sources.

With a population of 210,000, Fayetteville is the largest city in Cumberland County. In May, the county approved $1.3 billion in bond funding for American Titanium Metal to construct its factory. The county and city will combine to offer $189.9 million in more local incentives for the project.

On Tuesday, the state commerce department also awarded $5 million in grants to bring a Maine-based veterinary diagnostic products company to the Eastern North Carolina city of Wilson. IDEXX Operations Inc. plans to invest $147 million in the facility by the end of the decade and create 275 positions by 2028. The company vows to pay workers on average $65,873.

“The proposed new facility would increase operational capacity and provide supply-chain resiliency to support the global long-term growth and the company’s diagnostics products service,” Poole said.

The city of Wilson and Wilson County together awarded $5.2 million in local incentives.

North Carolina again edged out Georgia for this project, Poole noted. Wilson would not be home to IDEXX’s first facility in the state; according to the North Carolina Biotechnology Center, the company has a laboratory focused on “small animals, equine, poultry and dairy livestock” in Greensboro.