Wilmington-based Coastal Beverage Co. Inc. has announced the company has acquired its spot in the Pender Commerce Park.

The company closed on the more than 27-acre property on Corporate Drive on Aug. 21, said Tee Nunnelee, president of Coastal Beverage Co., on Tuesday.

“We are hoping to break ground immediately, now that we have the property closed,” Nunnelee said.

In February, the company announced plans to relocate its operations from Harley Road in New Hanover County to the Pender Commerce Park, an industrial park on about 450 acres off U.S.421 just past the New Hanover-Pender county line.

Also in February, the land purchase went before the Pender County Board of Commissioners. According to the commissioners’ agenda at the time, the price of the property was $852,929 for the plot’s usable acreage. Though the tract is 27.7 acres, a little more than 20 acres of the property are buildable, according to county documents.

Nunnelee said that the company is moving from the Wilmington location because it is outgrowing the space on Harley Road.

“We’ve been in our current facility since 1976 and … we are in need of more warehouse space,” Nunnelee said, adding that the current location does not give Coastal Beverage Co. the ability to expand.

The company chose the Pender Commerce Park because of its proximity to major highways and access to utilities. 

"It’s just more centralized for us to reach all segments of our market out of our Wilmington operation," Nunnelee said. "So the location and the proximity to I-140, and the fact that they have a road system in place, [and] utility; it was very close to a turnkey, for us to put a site there."

Nunnelee said that the company has about 140 employees, and will be moving that employee base from Wilmington to Pender County.

The initial warehouse in Pender will be about 170,000 square feet, slightly larger than what was announced in February. Current plans for the building call for about 140,000 square feet of temperature-controlled warehouse space and about 30,000 square feet of office space, he said.

“We anticipate that covering our need for the next 10 years and at some point in the future when we need to expand, we will have the ability to grow out to 250,000 square feet based on the acreage we have purchased,” Nunnelee said of the site.

The company has submitted site plans for the project to Pender County's Planning and Zoning Division, with the most recent update on Aug. 13, according to county documents.

"We’re just really excited about making the move,” he added.

To build its beverage distribution warehouse facility, Coastal Beverage Co. is working with St. Louis, Missouri-based ARCO National Construction Beverage Group, a builder specializing in beverage distribution centers, according to the ARCO’s website.

Nunnelee said the company's goal is to move into the new space in mid- to late 2019.