The Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina (EDPNC) has awarded Edgecombe County $2,637,650 through its Megasite Readiness Program to upgrade public water service to the 1,449-acre Kingsboro Business Park between Rocky Mount and Tarboro. The grant keeps one of NC’s most shovel-ready industrial sites infrastructure-current as state and regional recruiters work to land its next major tenant.
The Announcement
The award funds public water-system upgrades that will directly serve the 1,449-acre Kingsboro CSX Select Megasite, located on US-64 between Rocky Mount and Tarboro. The Megasite Readiness Program — created by the NC General Assembly in the 2022–23 budget cycle — funds infrastructure and site work that prepares large industrial sites for major tenant recruitment. The Kingsboro grant comes after Natron Energy’s previously announced $1.4 billion sodium-ion battery plant was canceled in August 2025 when the company ceased operations, leaving the site available again to a new anchor tenant.
By the numbers:
- $2,637,650 awarded to Edgecombe County
- Funds public water-system upgrades serving Kingsboro Business Park
- 1,449 acres of pad-graded, shovel-ready industrial land
- Three available pads: Pad B (647.6 ac), Pad C (368 ac), Pad D (155.2 ac)
- Existing on-site infrastructure: water, sewer, electric, natural gas, telecom, rail, highway
- Named the only shovel-ready 2,000+ employee megasite in NC by JLL
Who’s involved:
- EDPNC — administering the Megasite Readiness Program statewide
- Carolinas Gateway Partnership — the regional economic development organization marketing and managing Kingsboro
- Edgecombe County — recipient of the grant and project lead on the water-system upgrades
- NC General Assembly — created the Megasite Readiness Program in the 2022–23 budget cycle
The Local Story: Where Kingsboro Sits in Eastern NC
Edgecombe County sits in the Coastal Plain of Eastern North Carolina, anchored by Tarboro (the county seat) on its eastern half and bordering Rocky Mount on the western edge. The county’s population is roughly 48,000 — modest on its own, but it’s part of a regional labor pool of more than 300,000 residents when you fold in Nash, Wilson, and Pitt counties. Kingsboro itself sits where US-64 meets a mainline CSX rail corridor, ten minutes east of Interstate 95 and within roughly 90 minutes’ drive of the Research Triangle. It’s not a place most NC investors think about first — but the geography is the reason a 1,449-acre industrial site exists here at all, and the reason the state keeps reinvesting in it.
What makes the location work:
- Mainline CSX rail and dual-highway access (US-64, I-95) on a single contiguous site — rare in NC
- Three pre-graded pads totaling more than 1,100 acres of available industrial land
- Full utility stack already in place: water, sewer, electric, natural gas, telecommunications
- Carolinas Gateway Partnership manages recruitment and site readiness for the region
- Within 90 minutes of the Research Triangle’s labor pool and supplier network
- State-recognized as the most shovel-ready megasite in NC by independent site selectors
How This Affects Housing and Retail Demand
We follow announcements like this because they kick off a predictable sequence:
- New jobs draw new workers
- New workers form new households — most rent first
- Households need housing within a reasonable commute
- Households need day-to-day services nearby: grocery, medical, fitness, restaurants, daycare
- Workforce housing demand rises; neighborhood-serving retail rises with it
- New development follows; new jobs follow that
The state has been investing in this corridor for years. The water grant doesn’t land a tenant — it keeps the runway long enough to land one.
Where the ripple lands:
- Tarboro — immediate host community for any future Kingsboro tenant; first wave of housing and retail demand lands here
- Rocky Mount — the largest commuter shed within 20 minutes; multifamily and neighborhood-serving retail demand will track with whatever lands at Kingsboro
- Nash and Wilson counties — broader workforce shed; secondary housing demand
- The US-64 / I-95 Eastern NC corridor — the connector between this site, the Triangle, and the coast; long-run logistics and industrial expansion play
For investors focused on capital preservation and steady cash flow, infrastructure investments like this one are the early signals worth tracking before the headline jobs follow.
Sources
- Spring Hope Enterprise — Edgecombe awarded $2.6M grant for Kingsboro Business Park
- Neuse News — Sites in Edgecombe, Lenoir Counties Granted Funds by EDPNC
- EDPNC — Kingsboro CSX Select Megasite
- Carolinas Gateway Partnership — Kingsboro Business Park
Eddie Coleman, CCIM, is the Principal Investment Officer at NC Capital Group. With over 40 years of experience in Commercial Real Estate in North Carolina and South Carolina, his experience spans multifamily, retail, office, historic adaptation, etc. In addition to advising clients and brokering transactions, he has extensive knowledge of North Carolina through experience in corporate site acquisition, development, capitalization, HUD financing, etc. He holds the prestigious Certified Commercial Investment Member (CCIM) designation.