Nash County Board of Commissioners Chairman Robbie Davis recently sought to find out from Rocky Mount Mayor Sandy Roberson whether the city would take the same approach the county commissioners did last year in response to a then-proposed casino that developers were considering bringing to the area.
Roberson spoke about efforts to develop an area northwest of the city as one of a variety of items during a recent speech and question-and-answer session at the Rocky Mount Rotary Club’s weekly luncheon at Benvenue Country Club.
After the subject of a casino anchoring an entertainment district in the county came up in July 2023, some county commissioners took the position that area residents should be able to decide in a referendum if the county would want its commissioners to support having a casino.
During the question-and-answer session of the recent Rotary Club gathering, Davis asked Roberson, “Do you think that’s a position that you could take moving forward so we could go at it together and not apart?”
Roberson said that would be a decision of the City Council and that members of the council spoke in favor of having a casino in the area because of the jobs and significant tax revenue that would be created from an entertainment district.
The effort to add such entertainment districts to four North Carolina counties was being considered by legislators but never advanced to a vote because of widespread opposition to expanding casinos in the state.
Roberson said that if a proposed casino comes up again and needs to be looked at anew, then the city would try to work together in every way possible, but that there may be a contrast in priorities.
“And we’ll wait and see what happens when that time comes,” Roberson said.
He has said that he was “super in favor” of developing a casino project in the county, with the site to be off North Old Carriage Road across from the main entrance to Nash Community College, south of U.S. 64 and west of Interstate 95.
The City Council voted in January to approve a purchase agreement for land at what had been the site of the proposed casino at a total cost not exceeding $17 million.
The council’s action followed a council vote in December to authorize buying 336 acres of land at the site that was being considered for a proposed casino. The plan called for the city to hold the property as an available industrial or commercial site for development by an entity or entities seeking to make new investments and add jobs for city residents.
NC Development Holdings had acquired options on most of the parcels of land included in the property and had agreed to assign the options to the city. NC Development Holdings reportedly is linked to Baltimore-based casino developer The Cordish Companies.
During the recent Rotary luncheon gathering, Roberson gave the background locally about the developments.
Roberson said that about 10 years ago, the city of Rocky Mount, through the efforts of Rocky Mount Area Chamber of Commerce Economic Development Director Alan Matthews, began to assemble the land to try to build something that was going to bring in tax dollars and tourism revenue from motorists off I-95 and U.S. 64.
“For the longest time, for the longest time, Alan looked like Don Quixote out there chasing windmills and saying, ‘Look, this is going to come. It’s going to be a great thing. Let’s get a Cabela’s. Let’s get all these ideas,’” Roberson said.
Cabela’s specializes in selling outdoor recreation merchandise.
Roberson said that Matthews, in trying to find somebody to develop the land to create opportunities in the Rocky Mount area, stumbled across Cordish and asked, “Hey, look, do you think gaming is something that could be brought into the state of North Carolina?”
Roberson said that the answer was, “We don’t know.”
What followed were news reports about the Republican-controlled legislature wanting to expand legal gambling in the state, including into Nash County. That effort was shelved in September when the proposal was pulled so legislators could turn their attention to approving a budget.
Roberson said that what followed that was an internal discussion about perhaps the city purchasing the land off North Old Carriage because options were set to begin expiring by the end of 2023.
Roberson said that there was little time to decide what to do with the land and that the value of the land had been demonstrated.
As far as there being a future casino, he said, “I don’t know if somebody won’t try to make a run on it. I do believe that gaming probably happens in the state of North Carolina at some point in time. I don’t know when. I have no crystal ball associated with it.”
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