By George W. Little

While North Carolina’s economy has weathered the pandemic better than most other states, the creation of new jobs is still vital to ensure a pipeline of continued opportunity for our residents.

That’s why it’s been great to see that the state is doing just that, in part thanks to the efforts of the Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina. In recent months we have seen announcements touting thousands of new jobs coming to Charlotte and other parts of the state via new projects and expansions by Google, Apple, Fujifilm Diosynth Biotechnologies, Honeywell and many small tech companies in the state.

Another major project promises to add much-needed jobs in Cleveland County near Charlotte – and soon. 

The Catawba Nation in late March said it would fast-track its Two Kings Casino Resort in Kings Mountain by opening a “pre-launch” facility this summer featuring 500 slot machines. The 17-acre casino site off Dixon School Road in Kings Mountain is near interstate 85 and about 35 miles west of Charlotte.

The temporary pre-launch casino is a precursor to the full $273 million casino resort project. In all, the project will create 2,600 permanent jobs at full buildout and thousands of construction jobs in the region along the way. The plan is for a resort with a 220,000-square-foot casino, a 1,500-room hotel, restaurants, shops, and other entertainment.

Once the pre-launch venue opens, construction on an introductory phase of the full casino is planned to follow. It will feature an additional 1,300 slot machines when completed and be a permanent structure that will become part of the full casino.  

The Catawba and Delaware North, their consultant on the project, are holding job fairs to begin filling positions for the pre-launch casino. It all adds up to good-paying construction, hospitality, and operations jobs for residents of Cleveland County and adjacent Gaston County, which have not shared enough in the growth that Charlotte and other regions of the state have enjoyed. 

Likewise, the project represents a chance for economic progress for the Catawba, who have finally won approval from the U.S. government that recognizes their historical and ancestral ties to their aboriginal lands in North Carolina, as evidenced by names such as Catawba County and Catawba College.  

The casino is already sparking plans for housing developments in Cleveland County, and the resort complex will someday attract even more development. Of course, the casino will mean additional tax revenue for Kings Mountain, Cleveland County, and the State of North Carolina, which recently signed a compact with the Catawba that has since been approved by the U.S. Department of the Interior.  

Another positive this casino brings is educational opportunities – the Catawba are already working with local college officials toward offering hospitality, culinary and other curriculum for residents. That’s something very important to me, as I have devoted much of my life to education and have seen the long-term economic benefits education can bring to a region. 

The headlines we’ve recently seen about businesses expanding and coming to North Carolina have been heartening and make me proud as a lifelong resident of the Tar Heel State. What the Catawba have been able to do to have their casino resort project become reality is another exciting part of the jobs and economic development story playing out in North Carolina. 

George W. Little of Southern Pines is a former Chair of the National Association of Community College Trustees and formerly served as Secretary of the North Carolina Department of Natural and Economic Resources.