First Bancorp in N.C. to Move Headquarters

First Bancorp in Troy, N.C., is planning to move its headquarters.

The $3.3 billion-asset company has applied for regulatory approval to move its headquarters to Southern Pines, N.C., it said Wednesday. Last week, the company bought office space in downtown Southern Pines in Moore County, N.C., about 35 miles southeast of Troy.

First Bancorp said that about 150 of its 190 corporate jobs will remain in Troy, though most senior management will be moved to the new space.

First Bancorp's largest deposit base is in Moore County, where Southern Pines is located; Troy is in Montgomery County. Eleven of First Bancorp's 98 branches are in Moore County, and the company also operates facility management and legal divisions there, as well as a loan origination office and a training facility.

"Our bank has grown dramatically over the past few years, and this new location will help us better serve our customers going forward," Richard Moore, the company's president and chief executive, said in a press release.

Moore, a former state treasurer who ran to be the Democratic Party's nominee for North Carolina governor in 2008, has been selling bad loans in an effort to turn around First Bancorp since becoming CEO last May.