The first buildings are going up in Wrightsboro Business Park, a proposed 17-building park on Castle Hayne Road.
Joe Jacobus, the park’s owner and developer, said he’s envisioned developing the roughly 15-acre site at 2400 Castle Hayne Road for decades. The proposed business park will include 5,100-square-foot buildings, with around 900 square feet of dedicated office space and an adjacent laydown yard.
Jacobus, the former CEO of Markraft Cabinets, said he purchased 24 acres in the area with business partner Billy Miller shortly after moving to Wilmington in 1985. Over the years, the two subdivided the property, built Castle Creek Lane and constructed buildings to house their respective businesses.
“We had this vision to develop that land,” Jacobus said, “so we just kind of took care of it. We cleaned the ditches … just kind of built our businesses.”
When Miller died several years ago, Jacobus bought his portion of the land and began formulating plans for the business park about seven years ago, he said. That involved bringing a private sewer line out to the property, Jacobus said. Cape Fear Public Utility Authority had already extended a water line to the site.
Initially, Jacobus said he envisioned a business park with buildings around 2,000 square feet for the site, but market research suggested demand for larger buildings. He settled on roughly 5,100 square feet.
“It ended up that the biggest void in New Hanover County, we think, is about the 5,000-square-foot (building),” Jacobus said. “There's a few being built, but in the location where we are, we just thought that would be the best model for what our vision was for this park.”
Jacobus worked with Barry Coppedge, who co-founded and co-owns Leeward Construction with Rodney Williams, on planning and permitting for the business park. With its proximity to Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway, I-140 and Wilmington International Airport, Coppedge said he sees the property’s location as ideal.
“You could be pretty much anywhere within three counties within 30 minutes,” he said. “Logistically, it really is a good site.”
Jacobus said he envisions a single tenant in each of the business park’s buildings, but they could be divided to house multiple tenants. He also plans to create a professional owners association for the park, along with landscaping throughout the park and along Castle Hayne Road.
“We wanted to put something that was nice and attractive, that would upgrade the community in Wrightsboro,” Jacobus said. “We're very proud and happy to be up in that area.”
Will Leonard, senior vice president with Cape Fear Commercial, is marketing leases in the business park. He said the Wilmington region’s light industrial market has been strong in recent years, adding that individual buildings with dedicated laydown yards are a “proven product in the market.”
“The marketability and demand for these types of buildings, with the freestanding building and the dedicated yard … that's really what's gonna lead this thing,” Leonard said.
He said he’s seen interest from construction and building products companies, along with businesses in the service trade industry. As the buildings go up, he expects to see demand increase for leases in the park.
Coppedge said slabs for the park's four initial buildings have been poured, and crews began putting up their steel structures last week. The park will be built in three phases, and, he added, is already permitted, so that construction can respond to market demand.
“Depending on how quickly we can lease them and get it going,” Jacobus added, “we're anticipating building all of them out in the next year and a half.”
