Scotland County County chosen for $40 Million Lumber Treatment Facility Laurinburg, N.C. – Yesterday, Governor Josh Stein announced the decision by Great Southern Wood to locate on a 90 acre site in Scotland County in the Southeastern Regional Airport Authority’s Industrial Park. The Scotland County Economic Development Corporation and the Airport Authority are excited to welcome Great Southern Wood-NC, Inc., a manufacturer of pressure-treated lumber, to Scotland County. The company plans to invest $40 million to construct a lumber treatment manufacturing facility at the Laurinburg-Maxton Airport.
Founded in Alabama in 1970, Great Southern’s Laurinburg facility will be the company’s 17th treating plant. The company produces pressure-treated pine and distributes a variety of other building materials to dealers in the residential, commercial, industrial, and agricultural sectors across 28 states and the District of Columbia.
Great Southern Wood is a family owned, privately held, 50+ year old building products company with multiple locations across the US. The company intends to fill a production and distribution gap for its mid-Atlantic operations by locating in Scotland County. The proposed location offers Great Southern superior infrastructure access, via US Interstate 74, CSX Rail, water, sewer, Duke Energy electrical and natural gas service as well as an already industrial zoned site located in the Airport Industrial Park. Importantly, proximity to the Airport’s runways is critical to Great Southern’s management and operation of the Scotland County project as it allows the company’s leadership team timely and convenient access to the facility While wages vary by position, the average annual salary for the new positions will be $60,827, which is approximately 20% more than the current county average. These jobs will include management, sales, and supervisory roles as well as positions for specific functions such as truck driving, production and maintenance. All full-time positions will come with the full suite of benefits including health (medical, dental, vision) insurance, 401(k) with company-match, life insurance and an annual profit-sharing program.
This was a highly competitive selection process. Scotland County was in competition with other counties in North Carolina as well as the States of Georgia, South Carolina and Virginia. The Scotland County Economic Development Corporation and the Southeast Regional Airport Authority worked closely with multiple partner organizations including the Economic Development Partnership of NC, the North Carolina Railroad Company, the North Carolina Department of Transportation and the Golden L.E.A.F. Foundation to ensure the airport’s industrial park site provides superior infrastructure requirements for Great Southern.
Jim Willis, Chairman of the Scotland County EDC said, “Today's announcement that Great Southern Wood-NC will invest $40 million and create 43 new jobs in Scotland County is tremendous news for our entire community. Economic Development is a very complicated endeavor that involves many requirements to assure that we have all the infrastructure and components necessary that an industry needs to locate here. We not only have to make sure we have them or get them, we have to verify, catalog, coordinate and then market them. In this case our location was important and we are extremely grateful for the wonderful working relationship we have with the Southeast Regional Airport Authority. I want to especially thank our Director Jeff McKay and the Airport Authority Director Seth Hatchell for their work on this project. We are grateful to Great Southern Wood for choosing Scotland County for its facility and for believing in the potential of our community. We look forward to welcoming Great Southern Wood and watching this investment grow and create opportunities for our citizens for years to come.
” We have adopted a saying; “In Scotland County, economic development is a team effort, let us put our team to work for your company.” The depth and breadth of team members and their diverse resources in and outside of our county who showed up time and again through this process has been amazing. On behalf of both the Scotland County Economic Development Corporation and the Southeastern Regional Airport Authority we express our deep gratitude to:
The County of Scotland The City of Laurinburg The Town of Maxton Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina Golden L.E.A.F. Foundation North Carolina Railroad Company North Carolina Department of Transportation - Department of Aviation - - Rail Division Highway Division The North Carolina Department of Commerce The North Carolina General Assembly The North Carolina Community College System Richmond Community College CSX Rail Maynard Nexen Ardurra Engineering North Carolina’s Southeast Partnership A special thank you is also extended to Mountaire Farms.
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