GREENSBORO, N.C. — More work is being done at the Greensboro Randolph mega-site that will soon be home to the Toyota manufacturing plant.
The progress is a welcome sight for Randolph County's President of Economic Development Kevin Franklin.
"As I pulled up here this afternoon and I see that nice beautiful building pad out there, that's a little bit better than the last time I saw when I was out there. That's really exciting because that means construction is all right getting ready to go underway," Franklin said.
The $1.2 billion plant will make car batteries and it will create more than 1,700 jobs.
"They're good quality jobs, they're high paying jobs, they're going to have a good benefits and that allows the individuals in the community to be better off than they were before," Franklin said.
Ben Gaines, the owner of local real estate agency United Properties NC, says the area is also a great place to live.
"There's still great opportunities to buy here and to have privacy and to raise a family," Gaines said.
He says he's heard from a lot of people since the news broke about the mega-site. Some want to buy and others want to sell.
"When the mega-site was first approved we saw an uptick in calls from out-of-state commercial buyers of all sorts. We do have some clients who are selling because of the fear of the mega-site," Gaines said.
He says he's already seen changes around land sales.
"For example, I saw a land listing that an agent has had for several years and the moment the mega-site was approved this land was under contract," Gaines said.
He says demand will likely keep climbing as work continues at the site.
"As we get closer and closer to the day of opening of the mega-site, I think we're certainly going to see a greater demand," Gaines said.