Major Wilmington business park expansion could bring over 1,500 jobs to the area

New Hanover County has entered into an agreement with Wilmington Trade Center Land Company that could bring over 1,500 new jobs to the the park through a major expansion.

With the expansion, the Wilmington Trade Center will be one of the largest Class-A industrial parks in the state and is designed to accommodate industrial users up to a million square feet, said Scott Satterfield, CEO of Wilmington Business Development.

The trade center is on U.S. 421 and provides access to the entire Wilmington market as well as access to I-40 to get to Raleigh, I-74 to Charlotte and U.S. 17 to Myrtle Beach. The park is also close to downtown Wilmington, Wilmington International Airport and the Port of Wilmington.

Commercial real estate investment firm Edgewater Ventures and McKinley Building Corporation acquired 187 acres for major expansion at the Wilmington Trade Center in late 2023, and are now leading the expansion project.

“We’re excited to have the opportunity to partner with New Hanover County to bring a park of this quality and scale to the region,” said Chris Norvell, lead industrial partner at Edgewater Ventures in a press release.

More: New Hanover looks to industrial parks to drive economic development

About the expansion

The expansion will bring 10 new buildings. The center already has two buildings developed by Edgewater Ventures and McKinley Building, and currently 85% is leased by four tenants. A third building is planned to go into construction soon.

Overall, the 13 buildings, ranging from 84,000 square feet to 1 million square feet, would offer approximately 3.3 million square feet of Class-A industrial space over the next several years. The park would expand over 212 acres.

The business plan for the park is to build a shell building to be able to sell or lease building space.

“It’s intended that the lessees or buyers of the building will further invest in the buildings and bring equipment and jobs to the facilities,” said Eric Credle, the county's chief financial officer.

What are the county's investments?

The total infrastructure costs for the expansion project's roadwork, utilities, traffic signal, water tank/fire pump building, lift station and stormwater ponds is about $8.8 million.

County staff recommended an incentive grant of $3.3 million to cover utilities, water tank/fire pump building and lift station because those are items the county has precedence for funding, Credle said.

The investment would be paid over multiple years, but not more than $1,127,704 in any one year.

“This is the sort of investment into infrastructure and jobs and increasing our tax base that will have an excellent return on investment,” Commissioner Dane Scalise said.

Commissioner Jonathan Barfield Jr. said the county bringing infrastructure to the 421 corridor years ago is now making way for industrialization, including the Wilmington Trade Center and places on Sidbury Road and Blue Clay Road.

“We often talk about livable wages and those jobs will bring in more than that to our community,” Barfield said.

The vision for the park at full buildout is to have over $400 million in direct investment and over 2,000 new jobs.

This article originally appeared on Wilmington StarNews: New Hanover County invests millions in Wilmington Trade Center expansion