Cabarrus County bounces back from tough times.

July was hard on Cabarrus County. Textile-maker Pillowtex shut down, idling 5,500 statewide--3,300 in Kannapolis and Concord, Cabarrus' largest towns. But county leaders want everyone to know that while they may be hurting, they're still pressing forward.

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When Pillowtex went bust, Cabarrus, like counties across the state, already was feeling the squeeze from the ongoing decline in traditional manufacturing, particularly textiles. "It has severely impacted our area," says Cabarrus Economic Development President Maurice Ewing. "But it won't last forever, and right now, we are highly motivated as a result of it." That motivation is shown in part by Cabarrus Economic Development's aggressive marketing. "We knew we would have to do something to diversify our economy," he says. "When the downturn occurred, fewer opportunities surfaced, and we felt the need to go out and dig a lot harder. Before, the business just came to us, but after the downturn, things dried up."

The county's response is based on two economic-development studies completed within the past three years. Ewing has his sights set on several new targets, including automotive, food preparation, generic pharmaceuticals, financial services, plastics, nonwoven fabrics, call centers and warehousing and distribution. He expects to have a couple of major announcements within the coming months.

Cabarrus Economic Development also is working to coordinate recruiting with the state and the Charlotte Regional Partnership, a nonprofit marketing and industry-hunting group representing 12 North Carolina counties surrounding the Queen City. "We have expanded our marketing activity drastically in the past 18 months and expect to increase it even more," Ewing says. "It may take a couple of years to sort things out, but we're working hard to minimize the impact on the local economy." As bad as the Pillowtex closing is, he says, it shouldn't be the only thing people think about when they consider Cabarrus. "Unfortunately, when something of this magnitude occurs, people tend to focus on the negative and forget about recent accomplishments."

Cabarrus Economic Development is working with other organizations to make sure those accomplishments don't stay overlooked. For example, after the first two quarters of 2003, the number of jobs created and the amount of investment were ahead of 2002. "We have to let folks know that Cabarrus County is still a great place to be, with positive things happening every day," Ewing says.

While new industries are being pursued, several existing ones are already booming. Racing and tourism are two such industries. The county credits racing and racing-related businesses with at least 3,000 jobs. "There's no other community in the Carolinas where racing has a greater impact than here," Ewing says. "And the reason for that is our track, Lowe's Motor Speedway."

The 1.5-mile racetrack attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors to Concord each year for events in NASCAR's top series, which will be renamed the Nextel Cup beginning in 2004, and in its Busch series, as well as other events. Seating capacity is 167,000.

According to the state Department of Commerce's Division of Tourism, Film and Sports Development, the speedway ranks as the state's 15th-most-popular tourist attraction. "When you have a $100 million-plus investment in a single entity, it's serious and has an enormous impact on the community in terms of tax base, sales tax, tourism, food and shopping," Ewing says. "The influx of more than 150,000 people to your community throughout the year is simply tremendous."

Not far from the speedway is the new NASCAR Research and Development Center, which is expected to generate $100 million in product development and investment, top NASCAR officials say. The 61,000-square-foot center in West Winds Business Park was spurred by the death of racing star Dale Earnhardt during the 2001 Daytona 500. Much of the research conducted there will focus on driver safety.

CM Black Construction Co., a Concord-based general contractor, completed the center ahead of schedule at the beginning of the year. Founded in 1950, the construction company's projects include CT Communications' corporate headquarters, Barber-Scotia College's honors facility, First Charter's headquarters and International Business Park, a 517-acre mixed-use development. Brothers Emmitt and Clinton Black have watched the community's continued growth firsthand. "Commercial development in Cabarrus County has seen tremendous growth over the past several years," says Emmitt Black, president. "Companies that would have possibly relocated to Charlotte are now choosing Cabarrus County."

International Business Park already is home to several top employers. Pass & Seymour Legrand, which makes electrical-wiring components, employs about 600. And Sysco Food Services of Charlotte, an institutional food supplier, has about 350 workers. "We foresee there being a continued influx of commercial development to the area, helping increase job availability," Black says. "Where there are more jobs, there are more homes, thereby requiring more schools, more retail shopping centers, more hospitals, more community athletic facilities and the like."

Outstanding health-care providers also make the area a great place to be. For the second consecutive year, Solucient, an Evanston, III.-based hospital consultant, named NorthEast Medical Center in Concord to its list of the nation's 100 best hospitals. Lakewood, Colo.-based HealthGrades, another health-care consultant, rated the hospital best in the region for overall cardiovascular care. HealthGrades also gave its highest rating to NorthEast's maternity services. The hospital employs more than 3,500 at its 457-bed nonprofit medical center and 27 related businesses. "NorthEast Medical Center's continuous recognition as a top hospital in the Southeast is important to us because it's a quality-of-life issue," says Concord Mayor Scott Padgett.

Quality of life also is why Cabarrus ranks so high as a tourist destination, 15th among the state's 100 counties, according to the state Division of Tourism, Film and Sports Development's 2002 economic-impact report. The study, prepared by the Travel Industry Association of America, tracks tourism expenditures, payroll, employment and state and local tax receipts. In 2002, Cabarrus visitors spent $164.6 million, representing a 12.3% increase in five years. More than 2,720 Cabarrus residents were employed in tourism-related jobs, and visitor activity generated a payroll of $47.1 million. Tourism-related revenue resulted in state and local tax receipts of $12.9 million.

Concord Mills shopping mall remained the state's second-ranked tourist attraction, topped only by the Blue Ridge Parkway. The county also is home to the Reed Gold Mine in Midland, another top tourism venue. And new attractions such as the NASCAR Speed-Park at Concord Mills and the Dale Earnhardt Tribute in Cannon Village will keep the visitors coming. Two new hotels--the Suburban Extended Stay Hotel and Holiday Inn Express Hotel & Suites--bring the number of hotels to 21 and the room count to 1,673, an 85% increase during the past five years. "We've gone from being mainly a textile community to being much more diversified, and that has brought people to the area from all over the United States to live and to make contributions to keeping what we have that's good and improving those things requiring improvement," Padgett says. "We truly have a lot to be proud of across the county."

Kristen Burnette is a Raleigh-based free-lance writer.