Monroe is quietly vying for a roughly $200 million aerospace manufacturing campus that a confidential company wants to park on a 50.35-acre tract along Goldmine Road, according to city and county records. The proposal, listed in county files as “Project Seven,” would need the land to be annexed into the city and rezoned to heavy industrial before any dirt gets turned. County documents also link the project to a multi-year incentive package and a requirement to create at least 25 full-time jobs, with city staff setting public hearings this spring so residents can weigh in on the annexation and zoning change.
As reported by the Charlotte Business Journal, the annexation request is slated for a May city council agenda, and officials are keeping the company behind “Project Seven” under wraps while state and local incentives are hammered out. The Business Journal first highlighted Monroe as a finalist for this advanced aerospace manufacturing project and the potential jobs that would come with it.
County incentive plan
Union County’s agenda materials lay out a Step 4 economic development incentive grant of up to $4,860,000, to be paid over seven years in support of the proposed $200 million advanced manufacturing investment. The county’s Legistar files state that the grant would be tied to annual property appraisals, contingent on the company creating at least 25 new full-time positions, and estimate roughly $6.08 million in ad valorem taxes flowing in over the same period, according to Union County Legistar. Those county materials also make clear the company’s identity will only be revealed after related state incentive awards are finalized.
Site, neighbors and the pitch
City legal notices say the annexation would cover about 50.35 acres along Goldmine Road and include a zoning map amendment that shifts the land from Union County heavy industrial to City of Monroe heavy industrial, per the City of Monroe legal notice. The tract sits next to existing aerospace materials producer ATI Specialty Materials, which the Monroe Office of Economic Development has spotlighted as part of a growing cluster of specialty metals and aerospace suppliers in the area, according to the Monroe Office of Economic Development.
What happens next
Public hearings will give Monroe residents a chance to sound off before city council votes on annexation and rezoning, and any Union County incentive would move on a separate track under a negotiated agreement. County officials have been working through those steps for months, after beginning talks with the unnamed company in early 2025, and local coverage of past approvals shows the process typically folds in state-level incentives before a company is publicly identified, according to reporting by WSOC.
If the deal sticks, the project would rank among the largest manufacturing investments Union County has ever chased and would further cement Monroe’s role in the Southeast’s aerospace supply chain. Union County has already billed the opportunity as the biggest manufacturing investment in its history, according to a Union County press release.
