Coastal Beverage Co. Inc. plans to be operating at a new 150,000-square-foot facility at Pender Commerce Park by next year, bringing all of its existing 150 employees to the site, officials with the company said Tuesday.

The beverage distributor plans to buy the property to move its Wilmington headquarters and distribution center to new space that will be built at the park.

Pender County Commissioners on Monday night approved the sale to Coastal Beverage Co. of a 27.7-acre parcel at the Pender Commerce Park, pending a 10-day upset bid period process. The approval took place through a resolution accepting the company’s purchase offer, said Pender County Board of Commissioners Chairman George Brown.

The entire parcel includes 27.7 acres with a total net buildable acreage of about 20.1 acres. The price per acre is $42,350 for a total of $852,929 for the usable acres, according to county agenda documents.

"This announcement by Coastal Beverage Co. is once again indicative of the success of our ongoing efforts to invest in economic development for the purpose of creating jobs for our Pender County citizens," Brown said in a news release Tuesday.

Tee Nunnelee, president of Coastal Beverage Co, said officials hope to break ground on the property no later this summer. Plans are to construct a 150,000-square-foot facility, with 120,000 square feet of temperature-controlled warehouse space and 30,000 square feet of office space.

"We will be moving approximately 150 employees to this new location," Nunnelee said. "We hope to be able to move into the new facility by fall of 2019 at the latest."

Coastal Beverage Co. has service centers in Wilmington, Farmville, Pollocksville and Elizabeth City. The company has been located at its facility on Harley Road since 1976, sitting on about 11.5 acres of land, Nunnelee said in a Greater Wilmington Business Journal story last week about the potential purchase.

Nunnelee said the company has outgrown its current facility and needs the land to support the growing business.

The board's approval comes days after Wilmington Business Development (WBD) announced that FedEx Freight plans to build a new service center on a 12.5-acre parcel at Pender Commerce Park. The Memphis-based FedEx "intends to invest at least $5 million for a sorting hub there," WBD officials said in the release.

The news from CBC "also proves the park can accommodate headquarters operations, making it an asset that can facilitate economic diversification for our region,” CEO of Wilmington Business Development Scott Satterfield, said in the release.

WBD partners with Pender County in recruiting and retaining jobs and companies. The economic development group worked with Will Leonard of Cape Fear Commercial in addressing Coastal Beverage Co.'s needs for a new location, officials said in the release.

CBC has been run by the Nunnelee family for more than 60 years. The company currently serves retailers in 38 counties and work with brands such as MillerCoors, Constellation, Yuengling, Pabst and Heineken, as well as with wines and non-alcoholic beverages.

Pender Commerce Park is a 450-acre full-service industrial park located on U.S. 421 near Currie. The industrial park was completed in 2011. Two tenants currently operate at the site, New York-based ACME Smoked Fish and Empire Distributors.