If you’re considering Asheville and the surrounding area for a business move or expansion, you’ve landed in the right place. Asheville’s Economic Development Coalition for Asheville-Buncombe County, part of the Asheville Chamber of Commerce, has the knowledge, connections, and desire to help you put all the puzzle pieces together to make solid, data driven decisions. We work closely with the city to streamline your due diligence process and simplify your site selection.
We are your single point of contact, a confidential one-stop shop working closely with many local organizations to leverage resources. From simply helping with a few small details to walking you through the entire process, we provide advice and advocate for you from the first contact through City Council votes if needed. Close connections with city staffers mean your questions get answered quickly and completely.
We know that making a huge decision like this takes research, analysis, and economic development intelligence. All these services are provided efficiently by our staff, with inside knowledge gained from years of living here ourselves. We’ve helped hundreds of companies relocate and expand.
Whether it’s working with the city to secure city-owned properties or coordinating with commercial real estate brokers on your behalf, we simplify the process and the negotiations required to make the site selection process clear and easy.
We help you navigate traditional and non-traditional incentives related to making the right site selection for your business.
View more site selection resources
Deciding to relocate or expand your business in our area also requires a close look at how Asheville fits with your company’s culture and values. It’s the Economic Development team’s job to help you determine what your business needs to thrive.
We’re a place that embraces business and loves entrepreneurs. But doing business here is about more than the bottom line. It’s about living in a place with unmatched quality of life, in a place where wellness takes priority, and outdoor activities abound.
The Asheville area is known for an educated and fast-growing workforce supported and developed by several local community colleges and universities. Collaboration is a key component in the site selection process. Collaboration is continuing to develop our workforce, and we have many examples of colleges and businesses working together.
Asheville will soon be home to a new, $125-million GE Aviation plant for producing Ceramic Matrix Composite (CMC) components for the next-gen LEAP commercial aircraft engines being developed by CFM, a joint venture of GE Aviation and French aerospace concern Snecma.
“Asheville was the best candidate for GE Aviation’s new CMC plant of the four North Carolina options,” said Kelly Walsh, a GE Aviation spokeswoman familiar with the CMC facility site search, which involved locations in 12 states. “They are focused, they have an entrepreneurial spirit, and the work force is great, on time and on cost. Asheville was a key site to repurpose, because the existing work being done there wasn’t the highest value work.”
As you can see, we’ve got a proven track record at helping companies through their site selection process, embracing new local businesses, and growing the Asheville area through sound economic development practices.