The city of Claremont can be deceiving.
Based on a population of about 1,700, outsiders may expect Claremont to be little more than a bedroom community with a handful of traffic lights in a sleepy downtown, Mayor Shawn Brown said.
Instead, the city is home to large commercial businesses that bring tax revenue and jobs.
In 2021, the city had a banner year with four major companies announcing expansions at Claremont locations. Total investment was about $140 million.
Prysmian Group, a fiber optic company, plans to spend $50 million in its Claremont optical fiber production plant on Penny Road. The expansion will create 50 new jobs.
CommScope announced a $50 million investment in its Claremont and Catawba production plants. The investment will be split between the two production plants and create 100 new jobs between the plants.
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Pöppelmann Plastics USA, the U.S. division of a plastics manufacturer based in Germany, plans to spend $19 million to add a new manufacturing building in Claremont and 100 new jobs to the campus.
WestRock Company, a Claremont paper and packaging company, announced plans to spend $47 million to build a 285,000-square-foot expansion of its existing manufacturing facility on Heart Drive in Claremont. The expansion will create 50 new jobs.
The investment is a reflection of the relationships Claremont has built with businesses and a focus the city has on industrial and commercial business, Brown said.
“This council is very much focused on a business mindset,” Brown said. “Yes, we take care of our citizens. We know we’ve got to do community events and services, but, also, you can’t lose sight of the needs for a commercial, industrial retail base of things. I can tell you this council, they are laser-focused on that initiative and making sure we focus on that.”
The city’s industrial base is largely due to the Claremont International Business Park, southwest of the downtown area. The city has worked with the Catawba County Economic Development Corporation to recruit businesses to the park for decades. That recruitment pays off time and time again as those businesses choose to expand in Claremont.
The city has worked to maintain relationships with current businesses to keep them in Claremont and help them grow. The city is also looking to the future to set itself up for more expansion and more businesses, Brown said.
In 2019, the city reached a new wastewater treatment agreement with the city of Hickory. The agreement will allow the city to take on more residential and business customers. Brown knows wastewater is not glamorous, but it’s necessary to help Claremont grow, he said.
“We were pretty maxed out (on wastewater capacity),” Brown said. “We were to a point where if a huge industry had come to us, we wouldn’t have been able to take them. We had to set ourselves up and this agreement with the city of Hickory is going to revolutionize Claremont’s wastewater capacity for 40 years.”
Brown is expecting more business growth to come out of the city’s efforts, he said.
“There’s things in the cooker now that I can’t discuss publicly, but they are going to be good,” Brown said. “And there are things being worked on that, over time, will become public that are going to be good.”
In a small city like Claremont, the tax dollars that come out of businesses investments and expansions make a big impact. Those investments in Claremont mean a lower tax rate for residents and better services, Brown said. The city was able to repave nearly all city-owned streets, add sidewalks and grow a successful fire department with a low insurance rating, Brown said.
“It truly is giving the amenities of a larger city on a smaller scale,” Brown said. “And it is that industrial base that allows us to do that. It really does.”
This year, Claremont saw especially strong business growth and expansion. The level of investment reflects a successful year for businesses across the county, Catawba County Economic Development Corporation President Scott Millar said. Companies saw an increase in business in 2021, and with success came expansions.
As seen in Claremont, the businesses that grew and expanded in 2021 are the kind that weathered the pandemic, EDC Director of Existing Industry Services Nathan Huret said. There is high demand for products related to internet access, plastics, furniture and other goods consumers turned their attention to during the pandemic, Huret said.
“They’re the type of business that has sustained or grown during the pandemic,” Huret said. “They are quality companies, they go a long way. … There have been a tremendous amount of existing companies expanding this year.”
Many companies had high levels of orders this year, which led to an unprecedented level of investment, Millar said.
More from 2021
Here is a month-by-month look at the most significant business news Catawba County saw in 2021:
January
Catawba County and Hickory leaders agreed to provide roughly $2.5 million in incentives to Japanese product label manufacturer American Fuji Seal. The company announced in December 2020 that it would be located in the Trivium Corporate Center, the business park the city and county are working together to develop between Startown and Robinwood roads.
Family Video closed after 16 years in Hickory. The COVID-19 pandemic was cited as a reason for the “end of an era.”
February
Plastics and composite parts manufacturer RMC Advanced Technologies, a subsidiary of NanoXplore, announced plans to invest nearly $7 million in a manufacturing plant and create almost 50 new jobs. The company bought the building and operations of Continental Structural Plastics off N.C. 16 at Burris Road in September 2020. The company, which makes parts for industrial and transportation uses, planned to expand and improve the facility.
March
Plans for a new 12,000-square-foot hangar at the Hickory Regional Airport were announced in March. Later, a $1.5 million contract with Lenoir-based Wilkie Construction was approved for the hangar.
April
The former Hickory Food Factory Craft Diner building on U.S. 321 was demolished. The restaurant closed in May 2020, according to the company website. The building and right-of-way property were bought by the N.C. Department of Transportation in November for the expansion of U.S. 321 to six lanes.
Gusmer Enterprises, a company that makes filtration equipment for use in various industries, announced plans to open a factory in the Trivium Corporate Center in Hickory. Gusmer planned to create 73 jobs and invest more than $38 million. The Hickory City Council and Catawba County Commissioners approved incentives totaling $1.2 million for the project. City and county leaders sold around 16 acres of land in the business park to the company at a discounted price.
Apple announced a $1 billion investment in North Carolina. About half of the investment was planned to go to the existing data center in Maiden. Apple announced that it plans to invest $448 million over 10 years in the Maiden data center. Of the $448 million, $308 million will go toward real property construction or improvements and $140 million toward tangible personal property.
A Burlington store began moving into the vacant storefront left by A.C. Moore in Hickory in April. The clothing and housewares store opened in the Hickory Ridge shopping center off Catawba Valley Boulevard in October. Burlington was formerly known as Burlington Coat Factory.
May
Community Brewing Venture, a beer brewing collaborative started by the founder of D9 Brewing, opened in Newton in the former downtown fire station. The company renovated the building and began brewing beer in the spring.
Work began in May on a new Manufacturing Solutions Center building that will allow the center to expand and add new capabilities for testing personal protective equipment. The new building was paid for by $9 million in federal COVID-19 funding appropriated by the state last September as part of the PPE Initiative, which also includes collaboration with Gaston College and other public and private partners.
June
Trivium Corporate Center expanded by more than 100 acres to allow continued growth in the business park funded by Catawba County and the city of Hickory. The city and county paid about $2.7 million for the property.
CommScope announced in June it is investing $50 million in its two Catawba County production plants. The investment resulted in 100 new jobs. The cable, antennas and network equipment manufacturer expanded to meet growing demand for fiber optic cable. The investment will go toward equipment and changing and optimizing CommScope’s Catawba and Claremont plants without changing the exterior footprint.
July
Furniture manufacturer McCreary Modern began building a new sewing plant in Newton. The facility was expected to cost about $6 million. The building was built next to the company’s fabric storage and sewing building on U.S. 321 Business. The entire sewing operation is planned to move into and expand in the new plant.
August
Catawba County paved the way for a 55-acre business park just west of Denver in the southeastern part of the county, to access growth in the Charlotte region. The county bought 55 acres of property for a business park.
September
Everything Attachments, a manufacturer of tractor and machinery attachments based in Conover, announced plans to invest at least $20 million to grow its current site over the next five years. The expansion would create almost 150 new jobs with a minimum wage of $30 an hour. Catawba County offered more than $375,000 in economic incentives for the project. The city of Conover also approved incentives of a 68% grant on new city taxes on the project for five years, up to $227,290.
Prysmian Group, based in Italy, announced an investment of $50 million in its Claremont optical fiber production plant on Penny Road that will create 50 new jobs. The expansion will be funded in part by a $375,000 building reuse grant from the state.
Cable manufacturer Corning announced plans to create 200 jobs and invest $150 million as part of an expansion of its operations at the Trivium Corporate Center located off Startown Road. Catawba County and Hickory approved a total of up to $8.2 million in incentives for the project.
October
Pöppelmann Plastics USA, the U.S. division of a plastics manufacturer based in Germany, in Claremont announced plans to spend $19 million to add a new manufacturing building and 100 new jobs to the campus.
Claremont paper and packaging company WestRock announced plans to spend $47 million to expand its manufacturing plant over three years. The expansion will create 50 new jobs.
November
Appalachian State University said it will open a campus in Hickory in a large building off U.S. 321 that once housed the headquarters of Corning Optical Communications. The university bought the building that will house the new campus.
December
Sherrill Furniture said it is planning a nearly $3 million expansion of its upholstery production in Conover to keep up with demand for furniture. The company plans to convert a 140,000-square-foot warehouse into a new custom upholstery plant. Over the next three years, Sherrill Furniture plans to spend $2.96 million on building improvements and new equipment in the building. The expansion is expected to create 90 jobs over those three years.