Harnett Health Sciences Building – Harnett County, NC – 50,000 SF

In 2013, Red Rock Developments completed a 50,000-square-foot health services education and training facility at Central Carolina Community College. This project model is the first of its type in North Carolina, as it is the only Community College facility to be built on a leased basis. Central Carolina Community College experienced a rapid increase in demand for additional classroom space, spurred in large part by the completion of the new community hospital.

Red Rock Developments and our partners were able to structure a financial model that would allow the college to respond to these growing space requirements quickly. The county entered into a lease agreement for a 20-year term, with an option to purchase the improvements under a very favorable purchase agreement at the end of the lease term.

This new public/private partnership provides communities with an innovative and powerful tool to expand their higher education and job training opportunities at an accelerated pace. The structure of the contract with Red Rock Developments eliminated up-front costs for design fees, as well as concerns with construction cost overruns. The lease arrangement allows the county to proceed quickly with the construction of their much-needed facility, as opposed to a lengthier typical voter-supported capital bond campaign under a design-bid-build and own scenario. This option also allowed the county to fully retain its bonding capacity for other capital projects.