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Why E.C.?

A City on the Move

Updated September 24, 2009

By any measure — business development, retail expansion or cultural variety — Elizabeth City is a city on the move. Here's a summary of projects of note, recently completed or in the pipeline, as of August 2009.

Recent Openings

DRS Division of Aviation
DRS recently doubled its capacity to service C-130, CH-144 and Falcon aircraft with the addition of a second 80,000 square-foot hangar adjacent to the Elizabeth City Pasquotank Regional Airport. DRS has recently hired an additional 100 workers, bringing its total employment in Elizabeth City to more than 300. DRS opened its first facility in February 2006.

Telephonics Technical Support Services
Telephonics Corporation entered into a long-term agreement with the Elizabeth City-Pasquotank County Regional Airport in March to establish a Telephonics Technical Support Services Business. The corporation plans to construct a 22,000 square-foot facility, including a hangar, office space and equipment repair facilities on the airport property, scheduled for completion in February 2010.

Farm Fresh Food & Pharmacy
This upscale Virginia-based chain opened its first North Carolina store in Elizabeth City in January 2005. The 50,000-square-foot store includes a Starbucks.

Wal-Mart Supercenter
This 208,000 square-foot facility with an additional 30,000 square feet of adjacent retail space opened to huge crowds in January 2007 in one of Wal-Mart’s most successful grand openings.

W.C. Witherspoon Memorial Library and Public Safety Building
The 22,500 square-foot library and facing public safety building in downtown Elizabeth City opened June 2007.

Museum of the Albemarle
This northeastern regional branch of the North Carolina Museum of History, with 54,000 square feet of exhibit, event and office space, opened on the Elizabeth City waterfront in April 2006.

Fairfield Inn & Suites
This 96-room hotel by Marriott on City Center Boulevard off Halstead Road Extended opened October 2007.

Food Lion
A new 38,000-square-foot Food Lion opened October 2008 on the Weeksville Highway near Elizabeth City State University.

Elizabeth City Aviation Research and Development Commerce Park
This $13-million, 63-acre aviation park includes sites suitable for construction of four hangars of up to 80,000 square feet and will include the Elizabeth City State University School of Aviation Science and a College of the Albemarle FAA-certified Airframe and Power Plant maintenance training facility. The three-phase project is projected to create 800 - 1,200 jobs and attract $150 million in capital investment. DRS Technologies ground-leased all four sites in Phase I, competed in June. The City of Elizabeth City is in the final stages of approval for a Small Business Administration grant to secure options on property and do the site planning for Phase II.

Albemarle Hospital Emergency Room Expansion and New Surgery Center
A 38,000 square-foot emergency room and 31,000 square-foot surgery center, valued at $44 million, were completed in June.

The Center
Arts of the Albemarle completed renovation of the historic Lowry-Chesson Building, one block from the downtown waterfront, in March. The $3.2-million Center houses the Jenkins Gallery and the Maguire Theater, home to the Encore Theatre Company.

In the Pipeline

Conference Hotel
The Albemarle EDC's Downtown Waterfront Development Committee has held extended discussions with Galloway Corporation about the possibility of a mixed-use project to include a marina, conference hotel and center, apartments and retail on the Elizabeth City waterfront. The developer and the City of Elizabeth City are in the process of developing cost estimates and identifying potential funding sources for the $32-million project.

Why E.C.?