U.S. titanium company to invest $867 million in new Fayetteville manufacturing site

A US titanium company is choosing Fayetteville as the home of its new manufacturing facility. The new titanium mill is projected to invest almost $1 billion into the city's tax base and bring more than 300 jobs.

The site at Bethune Drive in Fayetteville is about 100 acres of unoccupied land now but officials said American Titanium Metals decided its forthcoming mill could be up and running there as early as 2027.

"We know we were up against other states, including Texas being one other state here in the South," said Robert Van Geons, President & CEO, of Fayetteville Cumberland County Economic Development Corporation. "But I think the thing that we did well was working with the property owner. We've been investing in making that site shovel-ready."

Cumberland County officials said the more than 300 jobs this titanium mill is expected to bring would have an average salary of more than $120,000.

ALSO SEE: Habitat for Humanity teaches teens trade skills in Fayetteville

"This is two and a half or three times the median income of our community," said Fayetteville Mayor Mitch Colvin. "So one, that's a great plus. Two is that we want to now start to cluster some of these aerodynamic aerospace industries. And hopefully, this can be a magnet to bring others around in this supportive space that this can be our niche."

"We wanted to be selective on the companies that we got," said Cumberland County Commissioner Glenn Adams. "We wanted to make sure that it was going to be a living wage. When you came here, we had incentives that it was going to benefit this community, this American Metal Titanium is exactly the kind of company that we are looking for."

Back in May, the county commissioners approved $1.5 billion in bond funding to help American Titanium finance the deal. That move also shielded the county and taxpayers from having to repay the bond if American Titanium didn't pay their debt.

Commissioner Adams said city and county officials hope to attract more high-level manufacturing, healthcare, and clean energy jobs after the American Titanium Deal and the recent opening of the Amazon warehouse.

"We want people to know what we want businesses and know we're open for business," Adams said. "We've got the space and we're building the infrastructure for it to happen."