Butner — a quaint small town that’s poised for growth

Editor’s Note: This article was originally published by Business View Magazine.

Butner, a charming and family-friendly town of 8,400, is located in the southern part of Granville County, and just north of the Raleigh-Durham megalopolis. Its 14 square miles sit on former agricultural land and the town boasts a rich history. Named Camp Butner, after Major General Henry W. Butner, a North Carolina native, the town was a place where the Army trained infantry, artillery, and engineering units bound for the Pacific and European theaters of war. This history has contributed to the Town now being home to several state and federal institutions.

Mayor Dr. Linda Jordon moved to Butner over 30 years ago, drawn by its small-town, family-friendly ambiance. “People like to come here because it is a quiet, quaint community with the opportunity for citizens to live, work, and play,” she says. “I moved here because of the qualities that the town of Butner had to offer – great schools, lots of activities for families and children to enjoy. People feel comfortable and relaxed. It was a place I wanted my daughter to grow up in.”

The small town is ready to grow

Mayor Jordon insists that she wants Butner to remain “quaint.” But that aspiration is going to be challenged in the years to come as the town sits on the cusp of significant growth, due to its prime geographic location and the addition of some major infrastructure projects — some complete, some in progress, and some in the planning stages – that will open up the town to new businesses and more residents.

First, geography: Butner is close to the Research Triangle Park (RTP), the largest research park in the United States with more than 370 companies and 65,000 workers. It is also just 24 miles from the Raleigh-Durham International Airport (RDU). In June 2022, construction was completed on the $142 million, East End Connector road project, which now connects I-85, which runs right through Butner, to I-40 in the RTP, providing the town’s residents and businesses a stoplight-free connection to and from RDU, downtown Durham, Raleigh, and beyond. There’s no doubt the new transit option is going to fuel growth.

A draw for business

Joe Stallings is Granville County’s Economic Development Director. He says that Butner is already a vital part of the region’s economic landscape, with four of the six largest employers in the county, and he believes that the town has an extremely bright future.

“The businesses that are here in Butner found themselves where they are because of the location, because of the business-friendly environment that the town has offered, and because they’re able to access one of the best and well-educated labor forces in the nation, or even in the world, right here in the Triangle,” he explains. “Being only 10-20 minutes from downtown Durham and RTP, 30 minutes from RDU, and about 40 minutes from Raleigh proper, really positions Butner as the front door to Granville County as you come up through the Triangle on I-85. So, as developers and businesses look to locate in this area, they want to be in the Triangle but are looking for a little more of a rural or suburban feel for their corporate campus or business. In my opinion, it’s a fantastic time to be in Butner because we are sitting in the catbird’s seat to capture and shape the town’s future for generations to come.”

Stallings says that Butner is looking to attract the same types of companies that already inhabit the Triangle while leveraging the area’s long history of making things. “Over a quarter of the labor force in Granville County shows up to a manufacturer every single day to work,” he notes.

“That’s double the state average and higher than the nation’s average. But, a lot of the manufacturing that we’re recruiting is not the manufacturing of the ‘1950s, 60s, and 70s. It is much different; much more automated and highly technically skilled. So, we are excited about the opportunity of taking that labor force and preparing it for, and turning it into, jobs for the 21st century, focused on aerospace, life sciences, and advanced manufacturing.”

The sewer project

While the East End Connector is finished, improving Butner’s already desirable location for commerce and industry, another infrastructure project, not yet begun, is poised to further enhance the town’s ability to attract new businesses, as well as grow its population. “In 2017 and ’18, a lot of developers came in and wanted to build housing subdivisions,” says Town Manager, Jordan McMillen.

“This led to the realization that our sewer capacity was getting to its limits. So, a lot of those housing subdivisions were put on hold. Now, the town does not operate the water/sewer system; it is operated by the South Granville Water and Sewer Authority (SGWASA). They started the process which is leading to a $75 million project, partly funded by the state and partly by the USDA (United States Department of Agriculture), to upgrade our sewer capacity. It’s a three-to-five-year project that will start later this year. We’re expecting a significant boom when that project is complete, or even halfway through when certain sections are done. 1,500 housing units have come forward but stopped until the sewer is done.”

Stallings agrees that the sewer project will be a boon for the town.

“A lot of investors are coming out of markets like Chicago, Dallas, and New York, looking at Granville County and seeing the potential and promise here. And they’re looking to get in early, instead of waiting for the water and sewer improvements being put in place,” he shares. “There are several investors on the industrial side that are looking at Butner for new industrial park developments and those are in various stages. But all of them are doubling down on the idea of getting the land under contract, the entitlements put in place, and being ready to roll once the water/sewer infrastructure project is complete.”

More development options

Butner is preparing for new growth in many other ways. McMillen reports that the town is trying to develop a town center area along Central Avenue, its main street, and home to the Town Hall and the town gazebo, which sits across the street in Gazebo Park. It’s rethinking its zoning ordinances to allow for more commercial and mixed-use construction and it’s building a permanent performance stage at the park for future events. A plan to transform some 400 acres with multi-use buildings and shopping options, named Butner Gateway, is also in the works. “Right now, we don’t have big box stores, and shopping isn’t as available as in our neighboring towns,” says Mayor Jordon. “So, we want to build something to keep our dollars in our municipality.”

“We’re also preparing ourselves to have more affordable housing and more housing, in general,” she adds. “The term affordable housing can have a negative perspective for some, but for us, it’s making sure there are homes available for the average middle-class family with children. Thirty years ago, the average price for a property was around $80K; now it’s four times that amount for the same home. Another thing is that the Umstead Correctional Center is in the process of being demolished and so we’re looking to see what opportunities are available there. We’re partnering with individuals who may be able to help us plan what that could look like and how we can build on that area of land different types of housing. So, that’s on the horizon.”

More town events

In November 2022, Butner hired its first Events Coordinator, Mallory Richard, and since then, the town has added 17 new events to its calendar. “One of the biggest events we have here in Butner is the Butner Summer Festival, organized by the Butner Community Association,” Richard reports.

“They are a non-profit organization, and the town of Butner partly sponsors the event each year. Last year, it brought in around 6,500 visitors to the area. Other events we host include the 4th of July fireworks. That event is sponsored by the town of Butner, the City of Creedmoor, the City of Oxford, and Granville County, and it attracts hundreds of visitors each year to Lake Holt. Many of our outdoor events take place in the Central Avenue area at Gazebo Park, located directly across from Town Hall. These include Campfire Movie Night, Groovin’ at the Gazebo, the Memorial Day ceremony, and the Easter Egg Hunt. We are in the process of building a performance stage in this area, which will allow us to expand our event offerings. We still have progress to make, but I am optimistic about the future growth and success of our community events.”

Butner draws tourists

Angela Allen is the Director of the Granville County Tourism Development Authority, which supports Butner’s event catalog. “I’ve had the opportunity to work with this town for nine years and we are excited about the growth that we see in Butner and we, as a tourism authority, are putting funds towards building infrastructure in the area,” Allen states. “Most recently, we’re assisting them financially with the project that they have going on at Gazebo Park, where they’re building a permanent stage. Over the years, I have seen them do the Butner Summer Festival; I have seen them host the Chamber’s Alive After Five in that park; and I love Groovin’ at the Gazebo. It started in a small way with food trucks a DJ and activities for the kids. But having a more permanent stage means that it has room to grow where they can bring in other types of live entertainment and even expand to have a concert series. It will have a whole different feel to it.”

“We’ve also helped with another asset of theirs which is Lake Holt, which is an absolute treasure here in Granville County; it is one of our hidden gems,” Allen continues. “It’s where they host the July 4th fireworks, which is a beautiful show, particularly from a visitor’s standpoint. It’s on a hill that overlooks the lake. So, by the time they shoot the fireworks over the hill, you get to see the biggest part of them. We have taken some miraculous pictures over the years and have used them in promoting Granville County. Those things are inviting to visitors in our area. They may not want to be around those larger crowds, deal with traffic, or parking issues. And we don’t have that here. We have that small-town charm. And our people around here welcome them just like they’ve been around here for years. So, that’s the good part about being able to market Butner on a tourism level.”With all these plans for imminent growth, will Butner meet the challenge of maintaining its quaintness and small-town feel? McMillen, for one, believes so. “There’s been a lot of vision here in Butner,” he says. “Since we became a town in 2007, we have been thinking about the future. So the town is a blank slate. It’s at a point where we’re looking forward.

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