From the Mayor

William “Bill” Dusch

Exciting Projects Underway Across Our City

WE CONTINUE TO HAVE A LOT going on in our great city and so much to look forward to in the months ahead. From the potential of thousands of new jobs to the Parks and Recreation Bond projects, we are proud of the progress being made.

As you drive along Concord Parkway, on the north side of the street you can see the steel rising on the new Eli Lilly plant site, which is scheduled to open in about two years. Lilly will be the home for many new jobs paying well above our county’s average wage. Of these 600 total jobs, 400 of them will be production-related. Eli Lilly wants to make sure there are individuals in our workforce that have the skills needed for these new production jobs, so to do this, Lilly is working with Rowan-Cabarrus Community College (RCCC) to create a training program to help make this happen. As the plant nears completion, RCCC and Eli Lilly will provide information on how interested individuals can access this training.

On the other side of Concord Parkway, plans continue to develop for the Red Bull, Rauch and Ball Aluminum plants. These three plants will work together to make the Red Bull products. Ball Aluminum will make the cans, Rauch will make and fill the Red Bull products, and Red Bull will inventory and distribute the products. (I also hear that Red Bull gives people “wings” but I am not sure how that works!) We are hearing that the expected groundbreaking on this Red Bull site will be in 2023. This project is an over $1 billion investment in our community. As more details become available with this project, we will share it with you.

Some of you might remember that this area along Concord Parkway was the site of the Philip Morris plant until it closed in 2009. The construction of the new Eli Lilly and Red Bull/Rauch/Ball plants will exceed the total investment that Philip Morris made in Concord over their nearly 30 years at that site.

For the first time since 1984, the citizens of Concord were asked to pass a General Obligation Bond in the November 8, 2022 election….and they did! The $60 million Parks and Recreation bond will be used to build four new parks, renovate five existing parks and construct eight miles of new greenways within the park projects.

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