Business View Magazine | April 2019

120 GOLDSBORO, NORTH CAROLINA land that it sits on is city land. Now, there is a 66,000-sq.-ft. convention center that sits on an emerging corner of our town. So, it’s going to push development that way. Since that hasn’t been open for a full year, we have not been able to track a lot of the ways that it’s influ- enced our visitation numbers, but I bet that this summer, when our state tourism office releases the numbers, I would expect to see them increase since that project’s been com- pleted.” “In April 2018, we opened the Bryan Multi- Sports Complex,” Glatthar continues. “It’s on 6,3 acres of land leased from Seymour Johnson Air Force Base and it’s the first pilot project be- tween a military installation and a local gov- ernment to come together and share resources. There are eight, all-weather soccer fields - six are natural fields and two are artificial turf fields. What makes this complex unique is that it sits on well-engineered soil; most complex- es are built on condemned or unusable land. The complex is starting to receive notoriety for the fact that it can be played on all year round. Connect Sport has dubbed it one of the top soccer facilities in the U.S., and what also makes it unique, aside from how it originated, is the venue, itself. “It has an amazing F-4 Phantom fighter jet greeting visitors as they enter into the campus and on top of that that, you have F-15s and KC-135s taking off over you, so you’re literally playing under an air show. It’s become a prized possession, not just for the city, but it’s getting a lot of traction on a national level. Those two things have spurred visitation to our area, in addition to downtown. We’re already on track for a $1.5 million economic impact for the first year. We’re really pleased with that and the hotels are really pleased with that, as well.” Erin Fonseca, Downtown Goldsboro’s Marketing & Events Manager, is focused on making the city a center of culture, art, and entertainment. “In the last couple of years, we have worked on our public art initiative, and have invested in installing public art pieces in the round- abouts along our Center Street streetscape,”