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From BIRTHDAY, page 1
“Being able to wave the VentureSouth banner in Fayetteville is a significant step towards putting our community on the map as a place to start and grow companies. VentureSouth brings a successful and proven process to our local investors and will undoubtedly lead to the growth of our angel investment and entrepreneurship ecosystem,” Cayton said.
The news, despite its importance to the region, was picked up by few media outlets, and like much local business news did, went by the wayside.
After reading the Greater Wilmington Business Journal and seeing people become interested in becoming TeamLogic IT clients from advertising in the publication, Cayton “became a little jealous,” he said.
That’s when he got an idea. What if Fayetteville had its own business journal? Through collaboration with GWBJ to learn the publishing ropes and many hours of lengthy discussions with community and business stakeholders on what a successful business journal should look like, Cayton built a team that went to work.
Scouring LinkedIn pages, making hundreds of phone calls, driving around town and taking pictures of curious developments among other inventive ways of forging connections and digging up hard-hitting news, the team assembled the first-ever issue of Greater Fayetteville Business Journal, which launched on May 28, 2021.
In celebration of our first birthday, let’s take a moment to reflect on just a few of the many newsworthy developments our seven-county coverage area has celebrated with GFBJ over the past year:
Horne Brothers Construction sale
Pine Gate Renewables launched Blue Ridge Power, a new EPC company; then, Blue Ridge Power acquired the solar division of Fayetteville-based Horne Brothers Construction, Inc. Jack and Charles Horne joined the company’s leadership team, and Chris Dunbar, who served as Pine Gate Renewables chief construction officer, became president of Blue Ridge.
Amazon coming to Fayetteville – twice
In early May of 2021, the Fayetteville Cumberland Economic Development Corporation announced that an Amazon delivery station would be coming to the region at 1005 Dunn Road – the previous location of the Soffe outlet store. RealtyLink helped broker the deal for the property, which included the 127,750 squarefoot building and almost 24 acres with the plan to lease much of the facility to Amazon. Months later, an Amazon 1.3 million-square-foot fulfillment facility was confirmed by the FCEDC at the Military Business Park.
USPS announced as new tenant of Liberty Point Industrial Park
In September, Liberty Point Industrial Park gained USPS as a tenant, located on Corporation Drive, adjacent to the area of Interstate 95.
PHOTO BY LRP MEDIA The first-ever issue of Greater Fayetteville Business Journal was unveiled the day before its official release at a launch party at Highland Country Club in Fayetteville.
Fayetteville State University acquires Bronco Square
FSU kicked off its homecoming week with the announcement that it acquired the Bronco Square strip mall debt-free and would build a standalone Chick-fil-A and Starbucks, totalling five million dollars in debt-free assets. The book store, Chancellor Allison said, would move out of Bronco Square and that space will become a new hub for entrepreneurial activities – a one-stop shop for businesses.
FTCC rescue training center, announcement of aquatic addition
The final steel beam for the first phase of construction of the FTCC-Cumberland County Regional Fire & Rescue Training Center was hoisted into place. In November, the school announced plans to open an indoor swift water rescue training facility in the building. The state-of-the-art technology being implemented in the 88,000-gallon tank will allow emergency personnel to train for a variety of swift-water and floodwater rescue situations upon completion.
Elkay expands operations into Robeson County
In June of 2021, Governor Roy Cooper announced that Elkay Manufacturing, the leading producer of sink and water delivery products, would invest $5.5 million dollars into the Lumberton area by becoming the first tenant of the Lumberton/ Robeson County I-95/I-74 Industrial Park. In early December, ground was broken at the site for the distribution center and construction is anticipated to be complete by October.
Bernhard Capital deal discussion
A private equity company based in Louisiana Bernhard Capital Partners discussed the possibility of managing the Fayetteville Public Works Commission. In the summer of 2020, BCP offered $750 million to the city. Near the beginning of May 2021, PWC withdrew from the deal, publicly announcing that it had ceased communications with BCP because it had not established the “transparency and trust” to continue the discussion. In early December 2021, Greater Fayetteville Business Journal was told that PWC has not yet been released from the nondisclosure agreement with the firm.
Cumberland County legislators bring $412 million back to region
Upon the signing of the state budget, Cumberland County was set to receive an investment of over $412 million dollars from the state budget. This is the largest allocation from the budget that the area has ever seen.
Counties perform $75M in federal contracts
In 2021, businesses executed $7.3 billion in federal prime contracts in North Carolina, according to the North Carolina Military Business Center. Among the 15 counties that performed over $75 million in federal prime contracts were Cumberland County, clocking in at $1,457,469,978.57 in federal total dollars and Robeson County, clocking in at $321,813,220.65 in federal total dollars.
Metcon completes construction of UNCP's new business school
UNCP completed and opened its 62,000-square-foot, two-story building, which contains multiple classrooms, seminar rooms, an auditorium, cafe, media rooms and a high technology stock trading room. The total cost of the School of Business was $35 million.
PWC announces carbon neutral energy project turns gases from waste into electricity
The Fayetteville Public Works Commission shared plans to install 1.5 megawatts of solid oxide fuel cells, made by Bloom Energy, a California-based company with a leading solid oxide platform for distributed generation of electricity and hydrogen. The project is one of the first of its kind, and as data shows that waste generation will likely increase by 70 percent by 2050.
Bast Fibre Technologies acquires Lumberton Cellulose
Bast Fibre Technologies Inc. (BFT), a manufacturer of premium natural fibers for the global nonwoven and textile industries,made an agreement to acquire Lumberton Cellulose LLC, a natural fiber processing facility in Robeson County, from Georgia-Pacific Cellulose LLC.
Additionally, GFBJ has delivered business news digitally and published a new publication called the Book On Business.
So, to our readership, thank you for joining us on this journey. As we celebrate our first birthday, we look to the years ahead and are eager to continue telling your story.
FTCC names NISOD Excellence Award winners
Fayetteville Technical Community College honored 14 members of its faculty and staff on being awarded the 2022 National Institute for Staff and Organizational Development Excellence Award.
The award recipients will represent FTCC at the annual NISOD International Conference for Teaching and Leadership Excellence in Austin, Texas on May 28-31. The 14 honored members of FTCC include: • LAUREN ARP- Assistance Director,
FTCC Foundation • DARRYL CARTER- Instructor, Systems Security & Analysis • STACI HOLLINGSWORTH- Job Analyst, Office of Human Resources & institutional Effectiveness • MARIAN JORDAN- Instructor, Practical Nursing • SONNY KELLY- Instructor, English &
Communication • TYLER MANION- Instructor, Auto
Systems Technology • RAJA MENDADALA- Web Administrator, Office of Public Relations &
Marketing • WALEED MOHAMMED- Instructor,
Occupational Extension Education • WILLIAM PARRY- Director, FTCC
Bookstore • GRANT PILKAY- Instructor, Biology • MICHELLE PING- Division Chair,
Dental • LORI REGISTER- Instructor,
Business Administration/General
Business • JUANITA WILLIAMS- Instructor,
Cosmetology • TIFFANY YOUNGBLOOD- Assistant
Director, Student Financial Aid
Each recipient listed will also receive a medallion and certificate for this honor. FTCC president Dr. J. Larry Keen, members of Executive Council, and the Academic & Student Services Associate vice presidents and deans collaborated to select and submit the individual names of instructors and staff to be recognized for their work for the college.
Fayetteville Woodpeckers hire new Stadium Operations Director
What are you and your peers achieving? Have you reached a new goal? Have you acquired another business? Maybe your business has a new hire you would like to highlight. Greater Fayetteville Business Journal wants to hear from you and your business to shine a spotlight on your accomplishments.
To nominate someone for GFBJ’s Achievers section, email editor@bizfayetteville.com with the subject line “Achiever.”
After joining the Houston Astros organization in May 2021, MATT CHAPPELL has been hired as the director of stadium operations for the Fayetteville Woodpeckers. As the director, Chappell is in charge of the general upkeep of
Chappell the facility, game operations, janitorial and event security.
Prior to joining the Woodpeckers, Matt worked as a graduate assistant at East Carolina University in the operations department. While there Chappell also gained experience in athletic maintenance and game operations for softball, football, and basketball programs.
“I’d like to thank the Houston Astros for their trust and I’m excited to continue working with this amazing organization,” said Chappell.
Chappell received both his bachelor's degree in business management and masters in sports management from East Carolina.
Originally from Hertford, North Carolina, Chappell enjoys spending time outdoors and with his friends and family.
Hansen honored with award from Pan-African Academy of Christian Surgeons
On May 17, the Pan-African Academy of Chrisitan Surgeons honored DR. ERIL HANSEN with the Surgical Humanitarian Award at the 2022 meeting of the American Pediatric Surgical Association.
Hansen joined the Department of Surgery at UT Southwestern Medical Center in 2019 where he specializes in pediatric surgery.
Hansen earned his medical degree at Baylor College of Medicine and performed his general surgery residency at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, which included two years of metabolic research and completion of a Master of Public Health degree.
After finishing his pediatric surgery training at The Children’s Hospital of Alabama, Hansen served in Kenya for eight years as the Head of Paediatric Surgery, as the clinical director of BethanyKids of Kijabe Hospital. He also served as the program director of East Africa’s first formal pediatric surgery training program.
With the training program Hansen participated in training of eleven pediatric surgeons from eight African countries and of dozens of general surgery residents.
Dr. Hansen is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the College of Surgeons of East, Central, and Southern Africa, and is a member of the American Pediatric Surgical Association’s global surgery committee.
Hansen has contributed to publishing numerous academic articles, completed several research projects, and contributed to the book Paediatric Surgery: A Comprehensive Text for Africa.
With Hansen’s diversity of clinical experience in pediatric surgery, Hansen also has interests in medical and surgical education, including global pediatric surgical training; pediatric colorectal disease; minimally invasive pediatric surgery; and gastrointestinal, oncologic, and hepatobiliary disease in children.
At its award reception at Cape Fear Botanical Garden on May 19, Cumberland Community Foundation announced $765,375 in scholarship awards to students.
CCF, a nonprofit charitable organization that was established in 1980, manages 580 individual charitable funds totaling over $120 million.
The recipients of the academic scholarships applied for the awards in two separate cycles: the Robert H. Short Scholars Program and the Community Scholarship Program.
The Robert H. Schort Scholars program helps high school seniors who graduate in Cumberland County to attend accredited public or nonprofit private colleges or universities. Awards of up to $30,000 are made possible by a $10 million gift in the will of the late Robert H. “Bob” Short, a local businessman and quiet philanthropist who valued education.
Sixty-one of the awards came from the Community Scholarship Program, totalling $135,375.00. The awards from the program range from $500 to $10,000 and are made possible by civic groups, which include The Fayetteville Alumnae Chapter; Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated; Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity; and Cape Fear Kiwanis. Individuals and families establish endowed scholarships as a legacy for a loved one, such as the Dr. Gloria Dantzler and Sergeant First Class (Ret.) Leon Dantzler, Sr. Memorial Scholarship, the Brian Edkins Memorial Scholarship, Curtis E. Torrey Scholarship, and the Ella Smith Downing Charitable Scholarship.
The Brian Edkins Scholarship was established by family and friends in Edkins’ honor after his unexpected death in July 2021. Edkins was a local educator who “devoted his life to students,” a CCF press release said.
“This is the first award from the Brian Edkins Memorial Scholarship,” said Susan Barnes, Scholarship Program Manager. “It is our honor to continue his legacy for local students.”
