News

MILLS RIVER — Ferncliff Park in Mills River has been designated as one of the Top 15 industrial sites in the state, making the inaugural list of NC Select Site.

In 2023, the North Carolina General Assembly created the Selectsite Readiness Program to support the development of sites under 1,000 acres, recognizing that not all major manufacturing projects require the thousand-acre threshold traditionally associated with mega sites.

The Selectsite program aimed to identify the top 15 sites. The Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina oversaw the program while the site location firm of Site Selection Group and engineering firm of Thomas and Hutton made an in-depth evaluation of zoning, buildability, utilities, roads, workforce and other factors.

Of 64 sites submitted, 30 received a site visit. Ferncliff was the only site west of Hickory to make the list and also was the only location already designated an N.C. Certified Site through the state Department of Commerce. Zoned light industrial, the 101-acre parcel would accommodate a 43-acre building pad, the report said. The property next door to Asheville Regional Airport, 2½ miles from I-26 and served by natural gas, Asheville city water and Buncombe County sewer.

 

Established as an industrial park in 2009, the park landed its first occupant in 2012 when the Henderson County Partnership for Economic Development recruited Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. to build its East Coast brewery, restaurant and beer garden near the French Broad River. In 2016, GF Linamar (now Linamar Light Metals) located in the park and soon after Federal Express opened a distribution center. The Henderson County Board of Commissioners voted to purchase the remaining acres in 2022 and has been working since then with the Partnership for Economic Development on strategic plans to recruit world-class manufacturing to the site. 

Ferncliff was part of the Rugby Grange farm that the Westfeldt family formed in 1868. Over decades, Ferncliff — the name of the property when it was acquired — was separated from the Rugby Grange by the Asheville airport, I-26 and by inheritance. The Green House, which overlooked Fanning Bridge Road, served as the owners' summer homestead. After the first sale in Ferncliff Industrial Park, the Green House was carefully deconstructed, and its lumber refurbished in Zirconia for use in the owner’s new homes north of Hendersonville, the Ferncliff website said.

“This would not have been possible without our commissioners taking a bold leap to purchase the remaining acreage of Ferncliff Park in 2022,” Partnership President/CEO Brittany Brady said in a news release. “We also have had tremendous support from our legislators and we hope that we can continue to see the General Assembly invest in the Selectsite Program."

 

The Siteselect team projected that it will cost around $230 million to make the 15 sites pad ready. The sites will receive part of the $10 million the Legislature authorized for the program in the 2023 budget. 

 

In Henderson County, only 1 percent of land is zoned industrial and most sites are less than 50 acres. For more information on the Henderson County Partnership for Economic Development visit hcped.org. For information on Ferncliff Park visit ferncliffindustrialpark.net.