Brunswick County leaders approved up to $250,000 in incentives Monday for a company that’s promised to bring 160 new jobs to Leland. 

Industrial Reliability and Repair LLC, an Ohio-based industrial construction company, plans to establish a manufacturing facility inside Leland’s Innovation Park. Over the next five years, the company will have to add at least 160 new jobs with an average pay of $46,500 to receive up to $250,000 in incentives, according to an agreement with Brunswick County.

Following a public hearing, the agreement was unanimously approved Monday afternoon at a regular meeting of the Brunswick County Board of Commissioners. Commissioner Pat Sykes was absent from Monday’s meeting.

Bill Early, executive director of Brunswick Business and Industry Development, said the construction firm had been looking to expand its presence in North Carolina for more than a year when it approached Brunswick County leaders about a building in Leland's Innovation Park.

The company isn't exactly new to eastern North Carolina. The firm has a facility along Castle Hayne Road in New Hanover County and another facility in Elizabethtown, according to its website.

“Neither one of those spaces allowed them to be able to expand to what they needed,” Early said.

The incentive agreement specifies the company must create 160 new positions in Brunswick County in addition to the 34 jobs that already exist at the two North Carolina facilities.

The construction firm serves several markets ranging from pharmaceutical and automotive producers to food and beverage and oil and gas companies, according to its website. The company plans to establish its manufacturing facility in Leland at 2307 Mercantile Drive NE. Early said the facility will be used to fabricate parts that will be used in equipment repairs.

The existing building, which is owned by TK KIDS 1 LLC, will require an array of upgrades. 

Those upgrades include the repair or replacement of the building’s HVAC system, modification of an overhead door, electrical and technology upgrades, interior and exterior painting along with new flooring and countertops, according to the incentive agreement. The building also needs acoustic ceiling repair and replacement, top decking replacement, a new store frontage and entry safety barrier along with the conversion of fluorescent lighting into LEDs.

Brunswick County approved a local economic development incentive grant equal to 50% of the required building improvements up to $250,000, which will be paid to the building owner. The county will fund the incentive agreement with money available in its general fund. 

The incentive agreement also specifies the company is expected to invest $500,000 in building improvements and renovations and to make direct investments of $1.25 million in equipment and business personal property.

The building slated for the new facility formerly housed QRP, Inc., a company that made parts for the aviation industry, Early said. The company consolidated some of its operations and moved out of North Carolina in late 2020, and the building has been vacant since then.

“We’re glad to have somebody back in that building,” Early said.