Last December, Governor Roy Cooper announced plans for the arrival of Toyota's lithium battery plant to the Triad, and along with it, thousands of good-paying transportation jobs.
Dozens of state and local government representatives, company leaders and other officials gathered outdoors at the Greensboro-Randolph Megasite for the unveiling of a new project: Toyota Battery North Carolina — the company's first battery manufacturing plant in the U.S. The $1.3 billion investment there was projected to create some 1,700 jobs.
Randolph County Economic Development Corporation President Kevin Franklin says planning for the megasite began a decade ago, and he's excited to see all the progress that's taken place since the announcement.
"There's been a lot of activity there on the site specifically with respect to grading," says Franklin. "So, the grading contractor has been on site really since late January, early February moving lots of dirt, getting things ready for Toyota to begin construction. And we anticipate that construction to begin by next month."
He says the initial building will be roughly 500,000 square feet. The first batteries produced there are slated for rollout in 2025 as planned.