Officials break ground at center
By Steve Herring
Published in News on July 15, 2016 1:46 PM
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News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
Officials break ground at the site of construction for the Maxwell Regional Agricultural Convention Center Thursday. The project has been decades in the making.
The groundbreaking for the $18 million Maxwell Regional Agricultural and Convention Center Thursday morning included an announcement that the project will receive $1.5 million from the North Carolina Tobacco Trust Fund Commission.
Nearly 300 people gathered under a massive tent on an empty field on North Wayne Memorial Drive for the ceremony that has been decades in the making.
While speaker after speaker mentioned the need for the facility that has been discussed for 30 years, they also praised the partnerships, particularly between the county and city of Goldsboro, that have moved the revived project along in just a few short years.
Site work is expected to begin this month. Overall construction is anticipated to be completed by January 2018.
The 12-acre site on Wayne Memorial Drive near Wayne Community College was donated by the city of Goldsboro under an agreement that the county will loan the city $3 million for its planned multi-sports complex.
An adjoining city-owned six acres remains as the site for a possible hotel and restaurant.
The county has set aside $4 million for the project and has applied to the USDA for 10-year, no interest $2 million loans. The county has applied for another $600,000 in USDA grants.
The center will be 1.5 acres under roof, said Sam Hunter, CEO for T.A. Loving Co., construction manager at risk for the project.
When completed its assembly hall will seat 800 in a banquet setting and more than 1,500 when set up for a speaker.
It will hold 70 booths for a trade show or similar event.
And it will create the need for 325 jobs, Hunter said.
Hunter said the company will work to ensure as many of those workers are local or regional as possible.
Wayne Country Commission Chairman Joe Daughtery called the project the biggest event in the county in many, many years.
"We believe this facility is going to be and will have a major impact on our community," he said.
Thanks is owed to many people, Daughtery said.
"But first of all I have got to say that (commission) Vice chairman Bill Pate was asked three years ago to head up the planning of a new agricultural center," Daughtery said. "He has been the driving force behind all of our efforts.
"I want to stress that the commissioners will finance this entire project without any property tax increase. There have been a lot of moving parts to coordinate, but the day has finally arrived, and all of the hard work has paid off."
The project was both a challenge and an opportunity, Pate said.
It has required many partnerships and has brought the county and city of Goldsboro closer than it probably has been in recent memory, he said.
"We stand here today to break ground on this project, the Maxwell Regional Agricultural and Convention Center, that honors one particular family and what they mean to Wayne County, North Carolina and our country."
The center is been named for the Maxwell family whose family-owned Goldsboro Milling Co. donated $750,000 to the project.
"We are also hopeful in the future that in addition to all of the other uses of this facility, there can be programs to educate children -- perhaps even from all over the state about the real facts about modern agriculture and why we should all be proud of what it takes to get our food into the grocery stores," said John Pike, Goldsboro Milling Co. CEO.
"Rep. Jimmy Dixon has a real vision about this education process and utilizing new technologies. We are hopeful that movement can start with this facility."
Dixon, co-chair of the House Agriculture Committee and chair of the Agriculture and Natural Resources Appropriation Committee, said he gets cold chills when he thinks about it being the 100th anniversary of the founding of Goldsboro Milling Co.
"Our agriculture heritage it is something that we are too quick to forget about," Dixon said. "It is something we are too quick to make reference to, and it is something foreign to our k-12 classroom in the state of North Carolina and across the nation."
What makes the Maxwell and other prominent agricultural families great were their forebearers who promoted work, industry, thrift, self reliance and provident living, Dixon said.
"This is why we are here today," he said. "Our forefathers labored long and hard to make America great with great toil, sweat, cuts and bruises -- they persevered through much tribulation to feed themselves and produce an extra amount to feed and clothe a hungry world. Several generations of the Maxwell family have been at forefront of this magnificent agricultural effort.
"Theirs is truly a heritage for future generations to emulate. We who are here today are blessed to be the beneficiaries of their hard work and generosity."
Dixon said he was proud to announce that North Carolina Tobacco Trust Fund is working on a $1.5 million grant for the project.
"Finally, we are going to reap some of the rewards that fund was set up for," he said. "This money will not be used to establish hospitals or pharmacies in big urban cities. Ladies and gentlemen, may we do our part to place the Maxwell Regional Agricultural and Convention Center at the forefront of a great eastern North Carolina effort to promote our wonderful agriculture heritage to feed and clothe a hungry world."