October 2021 Activity Report

October Activity Report2021 Program Focus Areas Existing Business Activity ̴ Business Recruitment ̴ Real Estate Development Project

Averages Project Averages Active and Missed

Project Activity Stats Active Projects

Projects Added

40 Missed Projects Over Last 12 Months

62 JOBS

2

24

JOBS 220

65

SQUARE FEET

Site Visits

5

2 Project Added : 3 Projects Moved to Inactive 2 Missed Opportunities due to lack of: Available Buildings

New

Missed Project Opportunities 12 Month Project Type and Main Reason for Missing

THOUSAND SQUARE FEET 168K

15

ACRES

ACRES 45.5

$3.7

Projects by Location

INVESTMENT

MILLION INVESTMENT $83.4M

Projects by Source

Projects by Type

Retention & Expansion

October 2021

Existing Business Current and YTD Total

4

Activity Since July 1, 2021

UNIQUE VISITS

33

7

FOLLOW UP VISITS

15

Wilkes WSRAR Meeting Held at The 1915 The Wilkes County Chapter of the Winston-Salem Regional Association of REALTORS™ held a meeting at The 1915 in Downtown Wilkesboro on October 27th. The EDC was one of the event sponsors. President LeeAnn Nixon presented to the group several Housing Projects underway in Wilkes and the need for continued collaboration to identify sites and developers who would provide needed housing in our county. The meeting was held in The Garden, a new outdoor venue option at The 1915. For venue inquiries, events or pricing, email them.

Total Visits YTD: 48

Program Stats

8

PARTNER MEETINGS

37

4

REAL ESTATE DEVELOPMENT

20

15

SOLUTIONS PROVIDED

80

September Unemployment Rate

3.8%

Down from 4.3% in Aug

Regional Sept. Rate is 3.3%. State Sept. Rate is 4.2%.

Retention

October 2021

& Expansion

Business Spotlight: Stardust Cellars Each month we will share a small business or industry in our area. They will answer a few questions and give insight into their work or products. There are so many talented entrepreneurs and driven business owners in our county! Click on thumbnail image to view interview.

This month we sat down with Nico von Cosmos, owner of Stardust Cellars in Wilkesboro. On this month’s e-newsletter, Nico shares his experience navigating the Entrepreneurial Grant Program and his involvement with the Wilkes County Next Generation Entrepreneurs program. We encourage you to learn more about WilcoNGE & get involved by visiting them on Facebook. .

LEAP Forward Program Update On November 9th, construction bids were accepted at the EDC Office.

Omega Construction, VPC Builders LLC, and Frank L. Blum Construction all submitted bids. Omega Construction was chosen as the lowest bidder. We appreciate all of these partners showing interest in working and engaging with us on growth in Wilkes. We encourage anyone who needs to build to contact any of these contractors to complete your project. EDC looks forward to working with Omega to construct the Wilkes Commercial Business Center.

If you have any question, please contact the Wilkes EDC.

Fall 2021 Entrepreneurial Grant Program The application deadline has ended for our very first Fall Entrepreneurial Grant Program! We received several great submissions from local business owners. Our panel of judges are set to meet the second week of November. The chosen finalists will present to the panel in person on November 18th, with winners being announced in the December 2021 Board Meeting. A huge thank you to Laurie Brintle-Jarvis with the WCC Small Business Center. Laurie has provided applicants with assistance in their submissions. We would also like to express our sincere gratitude to our Fall Sponsors; without them this would not be possible. It’s not too early to contact us to make this program possible again in the Spring!

July Unemployment Rate Ju