As North Carolina’s biggest economic development catch, JetZero is going to gobble up more than 600 acres at Piedmont Triad International Airport. That still leaves several hundred acres at the site, which is enough to keep it in the hunt for prospective tenants.
“There are three or four of them that are good, solid prospects,’’ Kevin Baker, executive director of the airport’s authority, says. “I’d say one or two are very solid prospects that would require smaller amounts of space that we absolutely have. So yeah, we are far from out of business here.”
Long Beach, California-based jet maker JetZero is taking a big contiguous parcel once home to a public golf course. It has been graded and is now “shovel-ready” in the lingo of economic developers seeking to lure a major employer to the high-visibility Interstate 73 tract.
JetZero is joining long-term tenant Honda Aircraft Co. and upstart Boom Supersonic as key parts of the aerospace hum.
Luring Denver-based Boom in January 2022 sparked a hot streak for PTI, which in a year later attracted the U.K-based Marshall Aerospace’s U.S. operations for repair and overhaul of military aircraft. With their big-box buildings complete and road and bridge work nearing completion around them, the two companies are expected to commence operations at the airport, eventually employing more than 2,000 people.
JetZero promises to be far bigger: a $4.7 billion manufacturing plant projected to create more than 14,500 jobs over the next decade, the largest employment announcement in North Carolina history.
As PTI’s reputation has spread in aviation and economic development circles, Baker says, “we’re pretty much getting asked to submit on just about every project that happens now. Marshall and JetZero found us because of the Boom project.’’
Since publicizing its selection of Greensboro in mid-June, JetZero is determining exactly where to put its operations at the airport. It may occupy acreage on both sides of I-73, putting it in proximity to Boom and Marshall.
Last week on an oversize aerial photo, Baker pointed out numerous parcels that are going to remain available after JetZero nails down its site. He says the authority continues to buy property, reaching deeper into commercial and residential areas in northwestern Greensboro.
“If somebody comes and wants a 500-acre site, we don’t have that,’’ Baker says. “But we do have a bunch of 50- to 100-acre sites.’’
The prospects are aviation-related, as required by the Federal Aviation Administration. “In other words, they have to have a need for a runway.”
That generally means suppliers of aircraft accessories are likely to locate in the vicinity of the airport, according to Baker.
“Seats are going to come from somewhere else,’’ he says. “Tires are going to come from somewhere; radios are going to come from somewhere else.’’
He anticipates Guilford, Forsyth and other adjoining counties securing suppliers as production ramps up enough.
As local and state economic recruiters have acknowledged, JetZero and Boom are still unproven since neither has assembled a plane. That brings uncertainty, Baker says.
“Obviously, they’re both startups,’’ he notes. “There’s a risk with any startup in any business, and this is a very highly technical, complicated business. But they’ve got good plans. They’re making headway.’’
