IREDELL COUNTY, N.C. - Statesville city officials announce a multi-million dollar economic development project expected to create thousands of jobs.
It will be located off interstate 77 at exit 45.
The development, Larkin Regional Commercial Park, will sit on 1,025 acres southeast of Statesville.
When complete, the project will have an estimated $650 dollar value and is expected to create 3,400 jobs over the next 10 to 15 years.
The project will include 5 million square feet of commercial space and 750,000 square feet of retail space.
The city says it's been working on infrastructure improvements over the past decade to accommodate this type of project -- including increases to utility capacity, road improvements and setting in place proper workforce development.
Officials say despite the size of the project, it's something the city has expected as it made improvements to infrastructure.
"In this particular area with our improvements in our calculations says that we can accommodate somewhere in the range of $1.8 to 2 billion worth of development. And I think it will get there. And of course this is 650 million of it so were third of the way there, right?" said Statesville Mayor Pro-Tem Michael Johnson.
The developers still haven't broken ground and the property still doesn’t have any tenants in place.
Asked if property owners were in negotiations for tenants – they said yes. But wouldn't say which businesses those are.
The property owners said, while Larkin Regional Economic Park won't be 100 percent complete by then, they expect to welcome the first tenant in the next 18 to 24 months.