Gerry Nash knew he'd come back to the Wilmington area eventually.

Nash, who was born and raised in the Port City, has expanded his family's business, Nash Building Systems Inc., from its Tarboro headquarters to Pender County.

A partner in the business, Nash recently opened Nash Building Systems Inc. in 70,000 square feet of industrial space at 1753 Porter Road in Currie, an unincorporated community in Pender County that is also the site of Moores Creek National Battlefield.

Nash's firm makes metal roofing and metal building products, using machines that take 10,000-pound coils of flat steel and turn them into panels and trim for metal buildings. 

"Most of our customers are contractors, homebuilders, roofers and handymen, all kinds of people who build and fix things, and Wilmington is a growing place," said Nash, who previously worked in commercial real estate. "There's a big market here."

Nash Building Systems in Tarboro grew to 50 employees before Gerry Nash opened the second location in Currie to serve the Wilmington and Southeastern North Carolina market. The company also ships material all over the Carolinas and Virginia, Nash said.

He expects national events to have at least a small impact on his business. On Feb. 10, President Trump reinstated a 25% tariff on steel and increased the tariff on aluminum to 25%. 

"It'll definitely hit us. We buy as much steel and aluminum from U.S. sources as we can. It's inevitable that tariffs are going to raise prices, but we shouldn't be too bad – it's still an affordable option," Nash said, referring to metal products. "Wilmington's still going to grow. People are still going to want metal roofs and metal buildings ... it'll hurt us a little bit, but it shouldn't slow us down."

Nash anticipates growth. He said the Currie location currently has four employees, with mainly retail activities taking place in a lead-up to the creation of panel and trim. Nash said, "We'll probably have eight employees by the end of the year here."