Rep. Michael Wray offered some clarification Wednesday night on why Roanoke Rapids will be the home to an entertainment district that will bring thousands of jobs, while Henderson never had a chance to compete for the economic prize.
The simple answer is that the entertainment district is an idea created and developed by the Northeast Partnership, the 16-county economic development organization for an area east of Warren County. That organization is the equivalent of the 13-county Research Triangle Regional Partnership, which groups Vance and the rest of the counties in the Kerr-Tar region with the likes of Durham, Wake and Orange.
The president of the Northeast Partnership, Rick Watson, visited Dollywood last year and met Randy Parton, Dolly Parton’s performing brother, Wray said. The partnership already was talking about the entertainment project, and Watson persuaded Parton to consider getting involved.
Wray said local incentives helped secure Parton’s participation, although no state money is involved. Wray said Parton is getting $500,000 in local money to start and will get further benefits as the project progresses. In return, Parton will build and operate a privately financed $9 million, 1,500-seat theater as the start of what Roanoke Rapids leaders hope will become an East Coast version of Branson, Mo.
Parton “fell in love with the area,” Wray said.
Besides the Roanoke Rapids-Halifax County bid for the entertainment district, the Northeast Partnership received proposals from Northampton and Currituck counties, Wray said. Roanoke Rapids benefited from being on Interstate 95 and being an hour and a half from Richmond and Raleigh, as well as an easy drive from such coastal areas as Virginia Beach and Wilmington.
Wray was responding to questions, particularly from Henderson City Council member John Wester, about Henderson being shut out of the project and about Wray’s role in supporting the development, which is outside his district but close to his Northampton County home.
Wray said his involvement with the project began last year while he was on the state Economic Development Board. He remained involved while in the General Assembly in part because the representative for Roanoke Rapids, John Hall, died early in this session.
Wray introduced legislation that would spend $750,000 in state money to promote the entertainment district, largely with billboards along Interstates 95 an 85. That money is in the House version of the proposed 2005-06 budget but not in the Senate version.
The plans for the entertainment district include the possibility of satellite locations for affiliated theaters, Wray said. “Hopefully, Vance and Warren will be in the running for that.”
The Northampton Democrat said he is committed to doing everything he can to bring jobs to all three of the counties in his district. To that end, he held a dinner meeting Wednesday that brought a state Commerce Department official together with Vance Economic Development Director Benny Finch and the economic developers from Warren and Northampton counties.
“I’m working just as hard for Vance and Warren as for Northampton,” Wray said.
As for the Northeast Partnership, being outside its zone cost Henderson a shot at the Randy Parton Theater and the rest of a development that’s projected to involve $129 million in private investment and more than 2,500 jobs in the first phase, but the Northeast Partnership has come under scrutiny from the Carolina Journal.
And the Triangle Regional Partnership has benefited Vance County: The group came up with the concept for the multicounty hub that is the area’s biggest economic hope right now.