Forsyth County approves $1.735 million utility-funded infrastructure package for Front Street Capital’s Union Cross spec building after public objections

The Forsyth County Board of Commissioners on April 2025 approved a resolution authorizing the use of $1,735,000 in City-County Utility Commission funds — a $1,000,000 interest-free loan and a $735,000 grant — to pay for municipal infrastructure (a new public road and water/sewer extensions) to support a 300,000-square-foot speculative industrial building proposed by Front Street Capital LLC in the Union Cross Industrial Center. The motion passed unanimously.

Why it matters: county staff and economic-development leaders said the infrastructure will open approximately 72 acres of developable land in Union Cross and provide a spec industrial building in a market that staff said currently has no immediately available speculative inventory. Opponents in the public session argued that utility-derived funds should not subsidize a private developer with an already-proven track record of profitable projects without clearer public documentation of community benefit.

What the board approved and the terms

- Board action: approve City-County Utility Commission expenditure consisting of a $1,000,000 loan at 0% interest and a $735,000 grant to Front Street Capital LLC for municipal infrastructure at the Union Cross property. Motion: Commissioner Bessie; second: Commissioner Wilson. Vote: unanimous (Chair Martin; Commissioners Bessie, Wilson, McDaniel, Woodbury).

- Purpose and uses: county staff and the developer said the funds will pay for a new public road (estimated ~$520,000) and municipal water and sewer to the new road and site (estimated ~$1,200,000). The total infrastructure package cited was approximately $1,735,000.

- Project description: Front Street representatives described…