A company with 73 acres of industrial property on the Northeast Cape Fear River sold the parcel this week to a Wilmington-based development firm.

Tribute Companies paid $5 million for the 2005 N. 6th St. terminal property in Wilmington on Tuesday, according to property tax records. The seller was Kinder Morgan (NYSE: KMI), an energy infrastructure company headquartered in Houston that operates terminals and pipelines across the country.

Owned by Mark Maynard Sr., Tribute Companies Inc. "consists of a group of individual companies that collaborate to develop and manage real estate and provide capital for partnership investments," according to Tribute's website.

"We are hoping to land an industrial user that can take advantage of the deep-water docking system that's in place," said Steve Hall, vice president at Blue Coast Commercial Real Estate in Wilmington, who represented Tribute in the purchase. "Shipping/import/export has become a huge issue for the U.S. Wilmington and North Carolina could thrive from this industry and we want them to benefit from this purchase. This could end up as a huge economic impact for our area if the right user takes advantage of this site."

Of the 73 acres Tribute bought via Isambard 53 LLC, only about 23 acres are considered uplands (buildable area), according to marketing materials for the property. The property is bordered by the Northeast Cape Fear River and Smith Creek, north of the Isabel Holmes Bridge.

A condition in the deed between Tribute and Kinder Morgan states that the buyer will not use the property for residential purposes, that it "will only be used for commercial or industrial development and use." The deed's language is adamant about the restrictions: "The Use Restrictions shall touch and concern the Property and run with the land in perpetuity, are binding on Grantee and all its successors and assigns, as well as all future occupants and owners of the Property, and shall be recognized in, and survive, all subsequent sales, transfers, leases, assignments, or other conveyances, in whole or part, of the Property," the deed states.

Bill Maus, partner with Wilmington-based commercial real estate firm Maus, Warwick, Matthews & Co., represented Kinder Morgan in the transaction.

"The reason that they [Kinder Morgan] decided to sell the property was because they had two other locations in Wilmington that they felt would satisfy their needs," Maus said. "This site just became surplus."

Kinder Morgan used the site to store asphalt, fertilizer, caustic soda and methanol, according to marketing materials. Kinder Morgan bought the terminal at 2005 N. 6th St. in 2008 from ChemServ Inc. for $1.4 million, property tax records show.

"The river channel is maintained at 31’ depth and dock will accommodate up to 600’ vessel. CSX rail service 3 times per week. There are no underground tanks, according to seller. City water is available. Sewer is nearby but will have to be extended into the site by boring under the CSX tracks," states a description of the parcel in marketing materials.