| In 1997, the City of Fayetteville, North Carolina awarded a $50,000 community economic development grant to Fayetteville State University (FSU) so the university could ascertain the economic, residential, and commercial needs of its neighborhood and develop methods and strategies to meet those needs. This study, called the Murchison Road/College Heights Master Plan, recommended the establishment of a Small Business Incubator near the university that would provide educational seminars and small business start-up assistance to low and moderate-income residents. After the plan was completed, FSU applied for and received a grant from HUD's Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) program to establish the Small Business Incubator. In 1998, the university also secured a COPC grant to implement the incubator's outreach activities and conduct other community revitalization activities.
Fayetteville's Consolidated Plan designates the Murchison Road-Fayetteville State University Corridor as one of the city's four Neighborhood Capacity Building Areas (NCBA). These areas are in danger of losing their capacity to function as thriving, viable, and safe communities due to a number of ever-worsening problems, including poverty and unemployment. More than a third (40.9 percent) of residents in the COPC target area have incomes below the poverty level, compared with 18.8 percent in the city at large. The area has a 16.9-percent unemployment rate, compared to 8.6 percent in the city, and a 34-percent homeownership rate, compared to 50.6 percent in the city. The average home value is $40,900.
On the positive side, the College Heights neighborhood has good potential for business development. Located along one of the main routes between downtown Fayetteville to Fort Bragg, the neighborhood is adjacent to FSU, which has 4,500 students who would patronize new retail establishments. Currently, the area has more than 70 businesses that employ 243 persons and generate at least $15 million in annual sales.
The FSU COPC continues to help Fayetteville carry out the recommendations of the Murchison Road/College Heights Master Plan. The plan calls for development of 14 new businesses that would produce 68 new permanent jobs for the area. Seven housing projects recommended by the plan will generate 150 new, affordable homes. The plan also recommends the development of 254 rental units of elderly housing and the rehabilitation of a 50-year old, 118-unit housing complex, which would charge rents as low as $275 per month.
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