Hickory: a new perspective.

• Author: Burnette, Kristen
• Position: Regional Focus - Advertisement

After being pummeled by rough economic seas for three years, Hickory's efforts to rescue itself are slowly starting to pay off. The city is reinventing itself, and officials say they're focused on a brighter future.

"We're looking across all sectors, including tourism, retirement, professional services and new manufacturing targets for opportunities that have not been exploited to the level we need," says Scott Millar, president of Catawba County Economic Development Corp. The area was hit hard in 2001, when thousands of jobs were lost as its core industries - textiles, fiber optics and furniture - slumped at the same time.

Hickory officials say they re determined to shake off their bad luck. And they're intent on shaking up the local economy at the same time. Located in northwest Catawba County Hickory was incorporated in 1863. The city is the state's 20th-largest, with 37,975 s residents, according to 2001 Census estimates Combined with Lenoir and Morganton, it forms the state's fourth-largest metropolitan statistical area.

"I feel good about what's happened here in the past year," says Mayor Rudy Wright. "It's true that we've continued to lose some jobs in furniture and fiber optics, but we've also replaced jobs." He says total employment is as high as it was a year ago. "As a community, we need to recognize that our economy has changed and will change even more."

Several community initiatives have been launched to help. Future Forward focuses on regional economic-development strategy for 12 counties: Alexander, Burke, Caldwell, Catawba, Iredell, Lincoln, Rutherford, Avery, Mitchell, Watauga, Wilkes and McDowell. The project's goal is to develop a road map for local leaders to support the regional economic transition. Other initiatives include the ForeSight Committee, the Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy task force and Priority One, a local economic-development forum in Catawba County. "Our community leadership is fully aware of the challenges we face and they are participating in many different activities toward solutions," Millar says. "We're excited about reinventing ourselves."

"There are success stories this area," says Andy Wells, manager of Prism Development, a real-estate and commercial-development group in Hickory. One example is the Bank of Granite, headquartered in nearby Granite Falls. Last year, the bank, with net income of $15.1 million, had the second-best year in its 96-year history; Bank of Granite closed the...