'We'll keep on growing our businesses.' Morrisville a hotspot for new businesses
From starting off as caterers to doing a lot of business through corporations, Aisha White of the Kupkake Fairy finds working in Morrisville is sweet.
"Over time, it just grew," White said. "People started knowing who we were and it's been really great as a minority owned business owner."
The town of more than 31,000 people has not only grown to become one of WalletHub's 2023 top ten small cities to start a business, but a hub for life sciences with two bio manufacturing facilities taking shape on both sides of a portion of McCrimmon Parkway.
"I heard at a conference that the reason we are a good place to do business is because we're great place to live, and that's what we're going for first," Morrisville Mayor TJ Cawley said. "We have Pathways, we have Spark, and another one, Discovery at Watkins Road, and these are life sciences that are coming into the area because we have such a great workforce."
Raleigh-based vice president at King Street Properties Tim Skender said Morrisville is strategically located at the heart of the Research Triangle region, which is why it's the future site of Pathway Triangle, a one-million-square-foot biomanufacturing campus.
"Life science development is in a big growth moment," Skender said. "When you think about it, people (lab technicians, scientists) they want to be in the most convenient location with amenities and Morrisville checks those boxes."
The town also checks the box for talent, according to Skender.
"It's not just the low taxes, the low cost of doing business, the great quality of life that people have," Skender said. "It's that the talent is being produced here at Wake Tech, at Durham Tech, at Alamance Community College. Both the PhDs and the lab technicians, everybody that served that facility is being trained here and wants to live here."
For Mayor Cawley, it's a win-win when it comes to growth and opportunity despite limiting factors, such as land.
"We're surrounded on all sides, so we can't grow outwards," Cawley said. "There's a big push to have more density but there really isn't land to do that even. What's left is mostly in the airport overlay so we can't build single-family housing there anyway. So essentially, we're reaching the top of our residence but we'll keep on growing our businesses."
Cawley said the town is also working on developing a town center, which they're currently discussing with a private developer.
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