As we begin the new fiscal year, we want to recognize “needle-moving” strides Harnett County has made in economic development over the last year. This Economic Development Update highlights recent achievements in three key areas - new and expanding companies, real estate and product development, and communications and marketing.

This year, strategic and outcome-based activities will further position Harnett County as a competitive and thriving community. Effectively working our plan of action and engaging in targeted public and private partnerships will be important to achieving new investments and growth.  

Want to dive deeper into our progress and plans for Harnett County? Check out the full economic development update on our blog to see how we’re working together to build a stronger, more vibrant community - one win at a time.

Harnett County Advances Reverse Site Selection Strategy with GLS

Harnett County Economic Development partnered with Global Location Strategies (GLS) to complete a Reverse Site Selection study specific to Harnett 95 Industrial Center (Harnett 95), the County’s first Class A industrial park. This innovative approach flips the traditional site selection process by completing a Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) Analysis on the site and community, a Target Industry Analysis, Location Benchmarking, and a Gap + Improvement Analysis.  

On July 10, GLS and our economic development team held a milestone meeting with County and City Manager, state and regional economic development allies, utility and workforce partners, and education professionals to review key findings from the [final] Phase 2 Report. The report will guide future product development and business attraction activities not only at Harnett 95, but across the County.

Harnett County's Economic Development Director Participates in Lightcast Client Focus Session

Stephen Barrington was recently selected to present during a Lightcast team training session, where he shared varied insights as to our team’s routine engagement activities, challenges economic developers face, and opportunities for communities like Harnett County.

By demonstrating how we apply Lightcast’s tools in our day-to-day work, Stephen provided a valuable perspective to help their team better understand ways economic development organizations may leverage their data, and how local priorities weigh in per the timing and use of some of their solutions. As an example, 18 months ago, we were not in position to leverage the business attraction tools offered via Lightcast. Today, we need these solutions to help us strategically target companies we want to recruit to our community.

Harnett County Team Attends NCEDA Annual Conference

In June, our team joined economic development professionals from across the state in Wilmington for the North Carolina Economic Development Association’s (NCEDA) 2025 Annual Conference. This year’s theme, The Leadership Game, sparked engaging conversations around collaboration, resilience, and the future of economic development.

Conference sessions were packed with valuable insights and balanced with levity. Some of this year’s sessions included: NC Commerce and Economic Development Partnership of NC (EDPNC) Insights, Tourism Recovery in Western NC, Retail Strategies and Main Street Best Practices, Forecasting Future Growth, Industrial Project Win Best Practice, and Navigating the Next Economic Storm. Thank you to NCEDA for hosting another fantastic conference!