Advance installs execs in Raleigh.

• Position: TRIANGLE REGION

Advance Auto Parts is moving key executives to Wake County following its $2 billion all-cash purchase of Raleigh-based General Parts International. The Roanoke, Va.-based company, which became North America's largest replacement auto-parts retailer when the transaction closed in January, will invest more than $5 million in a customer-support center in Raleigh and add 600 jobs in merchandising, marketing and other divisions by the end of 2017. Average annual pay will be about $110,000, more than double Wake's average of $49,410. The state has agreed to give Advance more than $17.4 million in grants over 12 years if it meets job-creation targets.

Some jobs may be filled by existing General Parts employees, though the company declined to provide more details. CEO Darren Jackson and Chief Financial Officer Mike Norona will relocate to Raleigh, but corporate headquarters will remain in Roanoke. Former General Parts CEO Temple Sloan III, who is on the board of directors, does not hold shares in Advance, the company's proxy filing shows. The combined company had revenue of $9.5 billion in 2013 and employs more than 74,000, including 3,823 in North Carolina.

RALEIGH -- First Citizens BancShares is buying Columbia, S.C.-based First Citizens Bancorporation in a deal valued at up to $676.4 million. With 577 branches in 18 states and District of Columbia and $30.7 billion of assets, the combined bank will be the sixth largest based in the Southeast and will rank 30th nationally when the sale closes in the fourth quarter.

PITTSBORO -- Town commissioners approved a master plan and rezoning ordinance for Chatham Park, a planned community that could increase the town's population from about 4,000 to more than 60,000 over 30 years. Cary-based Preston Development proposed the 7,000-acre development, which will be financed by SAS Institute co-founder Jim Goodnight. Plans call for 22,000 housing units and five retail centers (Regional Report, October 2013).

DURHAM -- Bull City Venture...