Eco-devo inquiries rise in Cabarrus, Mooresville; fall in LKN

Nov. 5. By Dave Vieser. Economic development figures are a little bit on and a little bit off during the first 10 months of this year compared to last year. New project inquiries are up in Iredell and Cabarrus counties, but down in Lake Norman.

In Cabarrus County, inquiries rose 20 percent, from 75 in 2014 to 89 through October of this year. “I believe the continued economic recovery is fueling the increase,” said Cabarrus EDC’s Patrick Coughlin. “We also have many more projects this year that resulted from our direct efforts than we had last year. We developed a comprehensive communications and marketing plan to tell industries the Cabarrus County story. As a result, the number and percentage of brokers and direct contacts with our EDC has increased significantly.”

At the Lake Norman Economic Development Corp., new inquiries—a predictor of future recruitment announcements—fell from 56 during the first 10 months of 2014 to 36 so far this year. Some of the decline may have to do with available product, including vacant office space and shovel-ready land.

“We believe this is correlated with the low vacancy rate in our area” said Ryan McDaniels, executive director of the Lake Norman EDC.  “The office vacancy rate for Cornelius, Davidson, and Huntersville is currently at 7.5 percent, below the 5-year average of 11.4 percent. The industrial/flex vacancy rate is at 2.3 percent, which is also lower than the 5-year average of 4.3 percent.”

McDaniels also noted that while new project activity is slower than last year, they currently have eight local expansion projects this year compared to just four last year

New business inquiries in Mooresville/South Iredell climbed from 75 in 2014 to 89 this year.