A company called Vertex Rail Manufacturing is expected to announce Thursday that it will bring about 1,300 jobs to Wilmington, according to business officials invited to the event.
Vertex Rail Manufacturing was formed by the merger of Vertex Rail Technologies LLC and Boxcar Services LLC, according to
a Railway Age article. The Feb. 13 article says that in the second quarter of 2014 Vertex Rail had expected to "manufacture tank cars, boxcars, and covered hoppers at facilities located in Worcester, Mass., and Wilmington, N.C."
“It’s a project that Wilmington Business Development had been nurturing for months and months and months, and countless man-hours have gone into this,” said Woody White, chairman of the New Hanover County Board of Commissioners and a member of the WBD board of directors. “We hope to hear the full details of an exciting announcement Thursday.”
The announcement is scheduled for 2 p.m. Thursday at 202 Raleigh St. in Wilmington, the former site of Terex Crane.
That property was "originally served by multiple rail spurs from CSX which still has main service nearby and reconnection is possible," according to the 202 Raleigh St. listing on Loopnet.com.
"Originally constructed by Babcock & Wilcox to fabricate large marine boilers, the property was most recently used by Terex for the manufacturing of large tower cranes," Loopnet says. The address also has a price tag of $9.54 million on Loopnet and includes a little over 68 acres of land and buildings that total more than 500,000 square feet.
WBD CEO Scott Satterfied did not immediately return messages Tuesday asking about Thursday's event. During a call to a number on the Vertex Rail Technologies website, the operator referred questions about the company's Wilmington location to WBD.
Check back later for more details about the announcement.