Civil and Municipal - Mar 2023

50 CIVIL AND MUNICIPAL VOLUME 4, ISSUE 3 destination for both residents and businesses by providing the infrastructure that folks need to conduct commerce, but also to be an attractive destination to live. Companies are looking for a good lifestyle for their employees, and we want to work hard to create that lifestyle.” Burton Hodges, Executive Director of the Transylvania Economic Alliance, relays that Transylvania County has seen close to $75 million in foreign biotechnology investment coming from India and China over the last 2 years. “The city of Brevard has been a key player in helping to support the growth of those industries,” he remarks. “North Carolina has a well-established brand as a hub of international biotechnology. We have developed a strong cluster on the momentum of the state’s growth in that sector over the past couple of decades; we have become the ‘Research Triangle Park of the West’. We’re not a huge metropolitan community, but we have a highly educated workforce and companies that value the quality of place.” Listing Raybow USA and Pisgah Laboratories as two of the major players in the region, the reports that they have both announced plans for expansion, bringing approximately 125 new jobs to the community. Gaia Herbs, another major employer with headquarters in Brevard, is currently undergoing a $4 million expansion. As for workforce development, Brevard is fortunate to have the Customized Training program, a North Carolina initiative facilitated by the North Carolina Community College System. “All three of those corporate citizens are currently involved with the Customized Training project through Blue Ridge Community College,” details Hodges. Tourism is another economic driver for the city of Brevard, which works with Explore Brevard for traditional tourism marketing and development. Hodges says, “What the Transylvania Economic Alliance does is try to attract and work with tourism-related investments. So, not necessarily attracting tourists, but attracting different types of employment and corporate citizens that are centered on the hospitality industry.” He shares the example of City Camper, a $50 million boutique hotel that is currently under construction in the city’s downtown, explaining, “It is almost exclusively centered on connecting their guests with our robust outdoor recreation assets.” On the city side, Hooper acknowledges, “The tourism industry starts off with homegrown storefronts and shops and things like that, and then evolves into bigger and more expensive things like hotels. The next step is leveraging the culture that shops, hotels, and outdoor amenities create to become a competitive destination for the outdoor industry.” With companies like SylvanSport, who build