Steve Brantley, Director of Economic Development, Orange County

Steve Brantley, economic development director for Orange County, spoke with Invest: about the county’s efforts to diversify its tax base, attract private investment, support small businesses, and leverage its position near the Research Triangle. “We need to expand more into private sector business,” Brantley said.

What changes over the past year have had the biggest impact on Orange County’s economic development strategy and investment priorities?

Orange County has historically been known as a university-based community because the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is here. That academic and liberal arts influence shaped the community for many years. Historically, Orange County did not pursue industry, private sector investment, manufacturing, distribution, or corporate headquarters in the same way as adjacent counties did.

I was hired to help introduce the recruitment of industries, light manufacturing, and distribution to diversify the tax base and job opportunities in Orange County. Over the last five years, we have had seven private industrial developers purchase about 800 acres of property. They have either built or announced plans to build up to 6 million or 7 million square feet of industrial space.

In the last few years, we have attracted about $600 million in new manufacturing and distribution companies that have announced plans to create 2,000 jobs and build about 2.3 million square feet. That is a significant change for Orange County and represents diversification of its private sector tax base and business mix.

We also have a responsibility to support small businesses. Orange County is one of the few counties in North Carolina with an agriculture grant program and a small-business grant program. We can make grants of up to $10,000 to small farms and small businesses based in Orange County that have the potential to grow. Over the past 10 years, those grants have exceeded $3.5 million and supported more than 500 small businesses and farms. We have also increased participation by women and minority-owned businesses and farms.

Tourism is technically part of my department as well, and that sector has had a strong recovery following COVID. The job losses and revenue losses related to shutdowns were most significant in hotels, restaurants, and hospitality. Agriculture is another area of focus, with agritourism and agri-economic development initiatives that connect local food and farming to tourism and broader economic development.

What trends are you seeing in how companies evaluate locations, workforce availability, and quality of life when considering Orange County?

Orange County has an advantage in promoting quality of life. We have an educated and international population base, in part because of the university and the University of North Carolina Health Medical Center. We are also beside Research Triangle Park, which has companies that generate educated, higher-paid residents who live in Orange County.

We also preserve green space and rural areas much more than some neighboring areas. Labor is a challenge across North Carolina. The state unemployment rate is about 3.8%, and Orange County’s unemployment rate is lower, around 3.1%. Every company is struggling to find and keep employees, and that creates higher salaries and employment expenses.

We have several groups that collaborate to improve workforce development. That includes county departments that manage state and federal grant money, the two local public school systems that counsel high school students on internships and educational requirements for different careers, and Durham Technical Community College, which has a campus in Orange County.

How is Orange County balancing the need to diversify its tax base with support for small businesses and entrepreneurs?

Our department is small and has a limited budget. There are only three of us, so we cannot do everything. One of our strategies is collaboration. The three towns in Orange County each have their own economic development person. We also have two chambers of commerce, and we collaborate with them. That allows us to multiply our efforts and leverage the work of towns, chambers, and the county together.

Media is another strategy, and media has changed over the years. It is increasingly social media-based, digital, and website-driven, and now AI is being introduced. People are learning how to take advantage of that.

However, I am old school. I was a state industrial recruiter with North Carolina for 23 years before spending 15 years here in Orange County. I value personal, face-to-face relationships. Those relationships can share information and generate business leads that have to be earned. I am not sure everyone values that, but those people who do not value it are missing opportunities to bring investment to their community.

What investments will be most important for Orange County in the near term to maintain momentum?

Economic development can mean many different things. It can be tourism, sports promotion, export promotion, arts promotion, agritourism, and many other activities. Orange County historically focused on some smaller or less typical examples, such as arts promotion or agritourism. My background is in introducing larger-scale revenue opportunities, including industrial recruitment, corporate headquarters, and research.

Because we are located beside Raleigh, Durham, and Research Triangle Park, we should try to capture some of the spillover from existing business clusters in that area. That would largely include life sciences, biotech, pharmaceuticals, fintech, IT, software, electronics, food projects, and, more recently, military defense.

North Carolina is one of the leading states for military presence because of its large military bases, but it has lagged in attracting defense contractors compared with some other states. The state is now trying to bring in more defense investment and jobs.

In my view, the best fit for Orange County would be biopharma, life sciences, and research. Thermo Fisher Scientific is one example. It is a multibillion-dollar biopharma company with a facility here of about $240 million that makes laboratory pipette materials. That facility was specifically funded by the U.S. government during the COVID era to prepare for future pandemics.

Data centers are another sector getting a lot of attention across North Carolina, though much of it is negative. Site selection consultants and others see opportunities for billion-dollar or multibillion-dollar data centers to power AI and cloud-based services. Many counties, including Orange County, have put one-year moratoriums in place to slow down consideration of those projects.

What are the main challenges and opportunities for Orange County to strengthen its tax base, expand job creation, and shape sustainable growth?

Orange County has highly restrictive land use policies that limit where development can occur. The county and one or two towns are reviewing their land use rules to see whether they can open up more potential for growth. Part of that discussion is about allowing more affordable housing to be built, which is a nationwide issue as well as a local one. We need to find ways to expand locations where growth could go.

There is also an educational need among residents who may be comfortable and do not want more growth. Orange County has many wealthy, educated residents who would prefer that it remain extremely rural. The problem with that is that it does not generate revenues or jobs for other people in Orange County, particularly blue-collar or minority individuals.

Most of our current tax base and jobs are related either to nonprofits, non-taxpaying public companies, or the university. We need to expand more into private sector business. That means attracting more companies in targeted areas, whether software and white-collar jobs or blue-collar light manufacturing.

What lessons can Orange County draw from surrounding communities that have seen significant economic development success?

Orange County is surrounded by successful adjacent counties that have attracted far more jobs and tax base for their residents. We should study those examples. Wake County, Durham County, and the city of Durham have done admirable jobs in that regard. We need to value what they have achieved and find out what they needed to do to enable that success.

Holly Springs is one example. It has had significant success attracting billions in tax-paying investment in life sciences and pharmaceuticals, along with thousands of jobs paying high salaries. Orange County should study how that community achieved that growth through land use policies, political commitment, and attention. We may not be able to do it on the same large scale, but we should try to achieve something similar.

Because we have the UNC at Chapel Hill, which is the mother university of the 16-campus public system in North Carolina, we need to find a way for the university to help generate talent, research dollars, and spinoff companies that stay in Orange County rather than leave the county. Historically, we have not had a successful track record in doing that.