Setting sites on an auto plant.

• Author: Mooneyham, Scott
• Position: CAPITALGOODS

"If you build it, they will come" might have worked for the Ray Kinsella character in the movie Field of Dreams, but that refrain could have a far different effect on the 170 characters who fill the seats of the General Assembly. Gov. Pat McCrory keeps talking about bringing a car manufacturer to North Carolina as one of his top priorities. Enviously eyeing that dreamy field near Greenville, S.C., where a BMW plant has spawned associated parts-makers, he and his advisers want to see something similar grow in this state.

They face a problem, the same one Kevin Costner's character had in the movie: creating a place the action can begin almost immediately. But accommodating an auto plant requires a lot more space than a cornfield. It needs between 1,000 and 2,000 acres available for a single tenant or owner. Automakers also want it to be "shovel-ready" with water, sewer, electrical, road and rail infrastructure in place. Having, in essence, a giant spec site available costs a lot of money--$50 million, for starters, economic developers say.

They have identified a handful of "mega-sites" with enough developable land and other attributes to attract an automaker or other mammoth manufacturer. Late last year, the state made three $1.7 million grants available to local governments for land acquisition and planning. But $1.7 million is not $50 million. Fretting about the financial concerns, officials in Davidson County dropped plans for a mega-site to focus on a more traditional industrial site, where public investment would follow private-sector commitment. Randolph County economic developers and officials have expressed similar concerns there, where they have the added problem of landowners opposed to selling their property for an idea rather than an actual plant.

A site in Edgecombe County has been in the works for years. Local officials invested huge amounts of public money in the property installing sewer, water and electric services. The 1,400 acres are near a site that landed a QVC distribution center, which opened in 2000 and employs 1,500. But much of the talk about an auto plant has focused on the Piedmont. Another site, one that didn't receive a state grant, is just west of Siler City along the Chatham-Randolph county line. The 1,700 acres are owned by two Triad businessmen who want to see the tract turned into a major industrial site, but it lacks...