More than 620 acres along the Cape Fear River are on the market in Brunswick County for potential industrial redevelopment.

Commercial real estate firm Avison Young listed the 624-acre property at 3500 Daniels Road NE in mid-August. Since then, the site has seen “tremendous interest from manufacturing users and brokers across the country as a site of this size with tri-modal access, heavy power and access to a major East Coast port is difficult to find,” according to Evan Sassaman, a senior vice president with the firm.

The property is among the largest available sites for industrial development in Brunswick County, said Bill Early, executive director of Brunswick Business and Industry Development.

The site was originally owned by Dupont before being acquired by DAK Americas, a division of chemical company Alpek, which operated a polyester manufacturing plant on the site until 2013. The site is owned by Alpek Polyester, according to property records.

All of the buildings that made up the manufacturing plant have been demolished, leaving only concrete pads, Early said. 

The property has “significant infrastructure already in place, including river access, barge capabilities, heavy power, gas and nitrogen lines and a 500-car rail storage yard,” Sassaman wrote in an email to the Business Journal.

That 500-rail car capacity is a unique plus for the property, Early said. He has, for years, recognized the property’s industrial potential, but DAK Americas didn’t seem interested in putting it on the market. Recently, that’s changed as the company looks to dispose of its unused properties, Early said.

Brunswick Business and Industry is helping to market the property to potential users, Early said, and he believes the site could accommodate an industrial or manufacturing user. While he said they’re not focused on attracting a specific industry or type of business, Early hopes the project creates new jobs for the region.

“I think that’s our responsibility to the county and the residents is to try to create quality jobs for the people who live here,” he said, “so we always want to focus on that.”

Sassaman noted the site could be an “excellent option for a data center developer due to the existing 115kV line running through it and 230kv line adjacent.” Sassaman said he’s also seen interest from industrial developers looking at the site for general redevelopment.

Sassaman declined to provide a listing price for the property, but said interested parties can contact Avison Young for pricing guidance and additional information. The site has a tax value of nearly $6.8 million, according to property records.

The demand they’re seeing in the property illustrates a broader demand for industrial sites in eastern North Carolina, according to Sassaman.

“Manufacturers have been eagerly adding North Carolina to their areas of consideration for several years now due to its central location on the East coast and business-friendly policies,” he wrote. “We anticipate there will be continued interest from manufacturers, with industrial developers creating additional product to support these users.”