RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK – State and local authorities on Monday announced a plan by a bio-tech company that calls for creating new jobs and the expansion of the firm’s presence in Research Triangle Park.

North Carolina Commerce Secretary Anthony Copeland joined local dignitaries and other officials at the North Carolina Biotechnology Center for the announcement of the expansion plan by AveXis, a gene-therapy firm.

“We are very happy to be a partner in this project,” said Wendy Jacobs, chairwoman of the Durham Board of County Commissioners. “AveXis is a growing company in RTP.”

The company is vying for state incentives of over $1 million.

The company said it also plans to invest $60 million over the next two years to expand its RTP presence and bring more jobs to the Triangle and RTP.

Jacobs said the company’s expansion will translate into 200 new jobs, and some of them will have starting wages of nearly $73,000 a year.

The development could mark a turning point for the Triangle’s recent streak of losing big projects, including efforts to recruit Apple and the Amazon to the area.

The new jobs announcement may heal some of the damage done to North Carolina’s reputation as a leading contender for technology-related jobs projects.

Google’s $13B expansion plan skips North Carolina

Wake County continues to land expansions and new jobs, according to the Wake County Economic Development.

Since October, Wake says the county has secured 44 new and expansion projects.

These are expected to create nearly 4,000 jobs and generate $227 million in investment.

And the potential project list is not short.

According to its latest report, Wake County says 32 projects have been reviewed since October.

These represent more than 3,600 jobs and a potential investment overall of $1.2 billion.

Additionally, the county says it has hosted nine “client visits.”

The county remains under consideration for 42 projects worth more than $3.3 billion.

If Wake lands them all, the projects would mean more than 6,700 jobs.

North Carolina reiterates Apple ‘remains active recruitment project’

One of those projects could be a new campus for Apple. A company linked to Apple has acquired land in RTP.

The Triangle has been reported as a leading contender since January of last year for a $900 million Apple campus and several thousand related jobs.

However, Apple’s most recent list of expansion projects didn’t include North Carolina.

That omission followed Amazon’s decision to take its HQ2 project elsewhere rather than the Triangle.

Last week, Google unveiled a series of major new projects, none of which were listed in North Carolina.

And last summer the US Army bypassed the Triangle for a new headquarters.

Will the streak of major announcements end today?

Charlotte, meanwhile, has also landed several projects and thousand jobs in recent months.

So the economic development project appears to be strong overall – even if the big names continue to just say “no” to North Carolina.