By Emily Ford
Salisbury Post
KANNAPOLIS ó The N.C. Research Campus will announce a new partnership Wednesday that could bring employment opportunities to Kannapolis.
Lynne Scott Safrit, president of Castle & Cooke North Carolina, called the development “very significant” and said it will mean “potentially good jobs for residents.”
Dole Food Co. owner and billionaire financier David H. Murdock will make the announcement at his restaurant Wednesday morning during what has been billed as a “special event … pertaining to the continued growth of the North Carolina Research Campus.”
Murdock is building the Research Campus on the ruins of an old textile mill he once owned in downtown Kannapolis. When Pillowtex, formerly Cannon Mills, shut down in 2003, more than 4,300 local people lost their jobs.
Atlanta-based Market Street Services did an analysis of the Research Campus in 2006 and predicted that if the biotechnology center is built out as envisioned, the region could see some 37,450 new jobs by 2032.
Murdock already has partnered with Duke University, Rowan-Cabarrus Community College and six universities in the University of North Carolina System, as well as several private businesses.
Campus and city leaders have predicted a flurry of private activity at the biotech center this spring as more companies sign contracts and leases with the campus. The campus is focused on improving health and nutrition.
Contact Emily Ford at eford@salisburypost.com.