Raybow USA expansion to bring will-paid jobs and establishes Brevard in high-tech recruitment
The agreement, which includes state and local tax incentives, puts the community in a good position to attract more such projects in the future, an official said
Dan DeWitt
Brevard NewsBeat
BREVARD — Pharmaceutical company Raybow USA announced Friday it will invest $15.8 million in its Brevard operation — an expansion expected to add 74 well-paid jobs, and one that demonstrates Transylvania County can compete with big cities for high-tech enterprise.
“This puts us in a different stratosphere,” said Josh Hallingse, executive director of the Transylvania Economic Alliance, which helped to secure a deal with the company that includes up to $464,000 in county tax incentives over the next five years.
The agreement is part of an ongoing effort to diversify the economy and add manufacturing jobs, which in recent years included attracting the Oskar Blues brewery and supporting the expansion of Gaia Herbs.
But firms such as Raybow typically build in established technology hubs such as Boston or the Research Triangle in the Raleigh-Durham area, Hallingse said. And the number of high-wage jobs to be added by Raybow, and the level of education these jobs require, “is unprecedented not only for Transylvania County, but for any rural area in the state that I know of,” he said.
The average salary of the jobs is expected to be $76,514, more than twice the county average.
“This kind of flips the script (and) . . . shows we can compete on a global level.”
Two big factors played into the company’s decision to expand in Brevard, said Raybow USA co-president Roger Frisbee: the quality of life in Brevard and the company’s long history here.
Raybow USA was established as PharmAgra Labs in 1999 by Frisbee and business partner Peter Newsome. It moved to Brevard in 2003 and was acquired by China-based Raybow Pharmaceutical in 2019. The Brevard manufacturing and research operation on McClean Road serves as headquarters of the company’s US operation, according to the Raybow Pharmaceutical website.
Though Frisbee said he and Newsome, the co-president of Raybow USA, did not have final say about the local expansion, they discussed this possibility when they sold PharmAgra two years ago.
“We strongly supported staying in Transylvania County,” he said, and the global company’s receptiveness to that prospect “was probably the deciding factor” in the sale.
Both Frisbee, who grew up in Henderson County, and Newsome have deep roots in the region, and don’t expect to have trouble recruiting qualified employees here, Frisbee said.
“Brevard is an area of choice,” said Mayor Jimmy Harris. “People want to be here.”
“New positions will include research chemist, pilot-plant personnel and supervisors. Once the project’s new jobs are in place, the region will benefit from nearly $5.7 million in new direct payroll,” according to a press release from the Economic Alliance, which also said the expansion will add 34,000 square feet to the company’s existing facility. Many of the new jobs are expected to go to current local residents, Frisbee said.
“The success and investment of this business is a testament to the strength and vitality of Transylvania County,” County Commision Chairman Jason Chappell said in the press release, and added that the plans represent a “a major economic development announcement not only for Transylvania County, but for our region and North Carolina.”
County Manager Jaime Laughter credited Hallingse’s organization and the incentive plan for securing the expansion.
“This win for our community is a great example of how investing in the right economic development strategies pays off,” she wrote in an email.
The company will receive reimbursements for 90 percent of county property taxes on the improvements it makes over the next five years, Hallingse said, but only after showing proof every year that it is meeting established investment and job-creation goals.
The company also received “performance-based” state tax incentives through the “One North Carolina Fund,” the press release said.
Along with Gaia and Pisgah Labs, which is also in the pharmaceutical industry, the expansion will add to a core of “life science industries,” Hallingse said.
The more local employees working in this sector, he said, the more likely it is the region will be able to draw new, related investment.
“For a community of our size, we have a pretty sizable life-science cluster,” he said.