“We are excited to welcome Centene to Mecklenburg County,” said George Dunlap, Chairman of the Mecklenburg Board of County Commissioners

July 1. Centene Corp. announced Wednesday it has selected Charlotte as the future home of its new East Coast headquarters, creating more than 3,237 new jobs in the city.

Centene will invest $1 billion to develop a state-of-the-art corporate campus in the University City neighborhood. The campus will house 3,200 employees and feature an on-site daycare center and corporate “university” for professional development.

The campus will be developed in four phases and include two office buildings, a data center, and the corporate university center. Available roles will include technology, operations, customer service, finance, human resources, medical management positions, and other corporate positions with an average annual salary of $100,089. More than 1,000 of the new positions are operations roles with an average salary of $63,000.

With Centene’s commitment of 3,237 jobs and more than $1 billion in capital investment, the announcement represents the largest economic development project in the history of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Business Investment Grant program by jobs and capital investment. It is the largest project to be announced in North Carolina by job creation since the Job Development Investment Grant program began.

City incentives range between $23,668,352 to $31,588,352 depending on assessed value and taxes paid.

“Today’s announcement is a historic occasion for Charlotte and comes at a most opportune time,” said Mayor Vi Lyles.

Centene, listed at 42 on the Fortune 500, is a health care administration company that provides managed care solutions for more than 23 million people across the country and international markets. The company was founded in 1984 as a nonprofit Medicaid plan by a former hospital bookkeeper and is headquartered in St. Louis, Mo.

“We are excited to welcome Centene to Mecklenburg County,” said George Dunlap, Chairman of the Mecklenburg Board of County Commissioners. “Their decision to locate their new expansion and regional headquarters in Mecklenburg County is a testament to the strength and continued advancement of our economy as well as the talent and skills of our workforce.”

Over the past two years, the City of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County have collaborated on economic development projects including Lowe’s, Microsoft, Stratifyd, LendingTree, AvidXchange, Better.com, Honeywell, Chime Solutions and others.

With today’s announcement from Centene, the City and County have helped bring more than 9,000 jobs and $1.47 billion in capital investment to the community since fall 2018.