Bill Early, executive director of Brunswick Business & Industry Development, closely watches industrial development in the region. And right now, there’s a lot to watch.
In Navassa, Samet Corp. recently completed a 160,000-square-foot building off Cedar Hill Road. The Greensboro-headquartered company completed its first 200,000-square-foot building in the project in 2023 and has plans for a third, 70,000-square-foot industrial building on the site.
Early said his organization has already submitted the new industrial building as an option for several projects considering Brunswick County as a potential site.
He’s also watching Canvasback Capital’s development of three planned small bay industrial buildings in Leland Innovation Park. The project is slated to bring about 175,000 square feet of flex industrial space across the buildings.
Planning is also underway for a 265,000-square-foot building in International Logistics Park, one of Brunswick County’s two megasites. Windsor Commercial is developing the project, which is expected to break ground early next year, Early said. Hundreds of acres remain available for future development on the more than 1,000-acre property.
“A lot of companies look for existing buildings when they’re looking for new locations to expand or relocate,” Early said, “so it helps when we have an inventory of available space.”
Across the Cape Fear region, several large- and small-scale industrial buildings have been completed in recent months or are in development.
At Wilmington Trade Center, a 13-building, master-planned industrial park developed by Edgewater Ventures and McKinley Building Corp., construction and leasing are moving steadily ahead.
Developers completed work on Buildings 4 and 7, both 152,887 square feet, this year and built out infrastructure to support the park’s second phase of development.
Building 4 is approximately 86% leased to American Tire Distributors, which occupies more than 109,000 square feet, and Red Bull Distribution, with nearly 22,000 square feet, said Chris Norvell, principal with Edgewater Ventures.
The project recently got its first lease in Building 7 with Wisdom Playgrounds, which will lease about 76,000 square feet, moving from Samet’s first Cedar Hill Road building.
The park’s next structures, Buildings 5 and 6, are currently in development, Norvell said, with Building 6 being released for construction. The two buildings will bring the park’s total to more than 1 million square feet of industrial space.
Just north of Wilmington Trade Center, on the New Hanover-Pender county line, Amazon’s Wilmington-area robotics fulfillment center is the largest of its kind in North Carolina, with more than 3.3 million square feet of industrial space under its roof.
The facility, with four-and-a-half floors, began ramping up operations in August. It’s expected to employ 1,000 full-time employees, and nearby, a 142,000-square-foot Amazon delivery station will employ another 100 workers.
At a ceremony marking the opening of the fulfillment center last month, Holly Sullivan, the company’s vice president of worldwide economic development, said the persistence of local economic development officials, a shovel-ready site and an interlocal agreement between New Hanover and Pender counties helped make the fulfillment center a reality.
The two facilities occupy the last remaining properties in Pender Commerce Park, a business park created by Pender County that is now home to approximately 4,000 jobs and 4.5 million square feet of industrial space, according to Scott Satterfield, CEO of Wilmington Business Development.
“As this company built out this state-of-the-art facility in Pender Commerce Park, it has also staked out a valuable leadership role, rapidly emerging as one of Southeastern North Carolina’s most prominent economic investors and employers,” Satterfield said during the Amazon event.
Back in Brunswick County, officials plan to use nearly $6.3 million in grant funding from the Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina for site preparations in the Mid-Atlantic Industrial Rail Park. Early said the funding will be used to purchase wetland mitigation credits for the site and to clear, grub and rough grade about 400 acres on the property.
“It helps a lot when a company comes in if they can see more than just a group of trees,” Early said. “Plus, it shortens the time that a company would be facing if that work’s already done.”
The funding will also help grade the site and lay gravel to show the potential rail service in the park.
In 2023, Epsilon Advanced Materials, an India-based graphite manufacturing company, announced plans to build a $650 million facility at the industrial park. The project has faced delays in recent years and, Early said, company officials continue working on due diligence.
Still, other infrastructure is also moving ahead on the site. An access road is under construction, and by the end of the year, Early expects work to start on water connections and an elevated water tank on the site.
Read more on Spaces + Places
Industrial Spaces Look to Grow
Downtown Wilmington Weighs Growth
Broker Builds on Industrial Growth
