The Science of Growth

Don Harrow wants to lead Cornelius
toward a new economic frontier

by Mike Savicki   photography by Ken Noblezada

 

After a decade in public affairs and economic development with both the Jacksonville and Charlotte Chambers of Commerce, followed by 15 years serving as vice president of government relations with Piedmont Natural Gas, you might think Don Harrow has done more than enough to justify some down time. But the appeal and challenge of helping the Town of Cornelius reshape its economic policy, better position itself for commercial growth and potentially create jobs and new business opportunities for residents was enough to attract the long-time Davidson resident to cast off the lines and set sail on a new professional journey.

 As the new economic development consultant for the Town of Cornelius, Harrow shares his thoughts on how he hopes to help tip the scales toward business, grow the tax base and make the town a more appealing destination for commercial growth in both the short and long term.

 

Economic Development Consultant is not the type of job you typically see promoted by a town or city. Why you and why now?

First of all, I think public policy and economic development are inextricably linked — economic development cannot happen without both public sector support and a public private partnership — and those are two things I love. A position that combines the two is a necessary one. For a town like Cornelius to recognize this and take action, well, that’s a reason to join the team.

 

Why Cornelius?

I will tell you it is the town’s way of putting a focus on commercial development. It is a tangible way of creating more opportunities for residents, bringing more business here and diversifying the tax base. It is also a way of putting in motion the process of a new master plan while also revisiting and reshaping older codes and ordinances. And just by doing this, Cornelius is getting the word out that it wants to be engaged and successful and is putting a strategic focus around this sort of development.

 

What do you believe makes a town like Cornelius uniquely appealing to corporations and commercial development?

Well, there are the popularly known factors like the lake, the quality of living, the proximity to both the city and the airport and the access to the interstate, but what I see as more uniquely appealing relates to the diversity and economics of the people. There is the tremendously diverse availability of housing for different economic levels, and that appeals to a broad range of potential employers. Our very well educated population is a plus and, from a market perspective, Cornelius has the ability to support a wide variety of retail, too.

 

Those who live in Cornelius often hear the town is 85 percent residential and only 15 percent commercial. Is that ratio really that important and what can we learn from it?

In a general sense, ratios like this one matter, but where I think these numbers might be a bit misleading is that the very large number of high-end properties on and around the lake in this town skews it a bit. For a town its size, Cornelius does have a reasonable commercial tax base, but it can do better. On a macro level, where that statistic gets some discussion, is that it takes money for a town to be able to provide all its essential services, and because the tax bases for residential and commercial properties are different, we’d like to see a smaller burden placed on the citizens.

 

Cornelius is unique among all the Lake Norman towns because of its abundance of shorefront residential properties. Is it fair to say the town is potentially better positioned to be a bedroom-type community as opposed to one with a larger commercial base?

If you look at one of the mandates that came out of the town’s recently approved master plan, you’ll see a priority is establishing some sort of a waterfront commercial development. Historically, because that has not been a priority, you see the majority of waterfront land has been developed with a residential focus. By looking at it differently now, you are seeing discussions around commercial development along the water with public access for both residents and even tourists and that may help us take better advantage of our most unique amenity. We have a great opportunity here.

 

If you flip through the papers on a regular basis, you see scores of new business listings each month, yet there remain large numbers of office vacancies from one end of town to the other. What does this tell you?

This is an example of how businesses progress through growth cycles, and it also shows how the economy is recovering. The increasing number of new business listings indicates that the economy is making a comeback and that’s a good sign. The empty office spaces indicate that before the recession hit, there was an extensive period of building because suppliers saw that the demand for commercial space was trending upwards. In my opinion, especially if we can accurately catalog all the available spaces right now and trend it forward, as these new businesses grow and establish themselves, we will see the gap closing.

 

Let’s fast forward a bit. How do you see the town looking five, 10 and 20 years down the road?

That’s a great question. At this juncture, just by the very nature of how this region north of Charlotte has developed, Cornelius does not have a wealth of available, shovel-ready property for commercial use. In the short term, that needs to become a priority if we want to attract the types of corporations who are acting quickly and making decisions in defined timeframes because time is money for these businesses. We will be better served with an inventory of product available. Over time, it also makes sense to improve the state of some of our existing areas, maybe turn some of the older properties over and redevelop others to make them more commercially appealing. It behooves the town to work with property owners and even developers to put into place new plans for existing properties so that the town has more available sites than it does today. Again, a shovel-ready inventory means being ready on the front end.