Built to last Car business speeds up Page 9
March 19 - April 2, 2021 Vol. 22, No. 6
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wilmingtonbiz.com
WEB EXCLUSIVE
REGION IN FOCUS BRUNSWICK COUNTY
Project Grace
Find the latest on a major downtown redevelopment wilmingtonbiz.com
REGION IN FOCUS
BRUNSWICK CO. PAGE
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Luring jobs: Officials hope megasites work Hot markets: Some areas outsell others Tornado aftermath: Neighborhood, county pick up the pieces PHOTO BY MICHAEL CLINE SPENCER
Index Economic Indicators .............................. 2 Technology ............................................. 3 Hospitality ..........................................4-5 The List .................................................. 8 In Profile................................................. 9 Real Estate..................................... 10-12 Business of Life.............................. 22-23
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Economic drivers: Bill Early, executive director of Brunswick Business & Industry Development, and Gary Lanier, director of the Columbus County Economic Development Commission, are hoping a spec building at the International Logistics Park in Brunswick and Columbus will attract an employer.
FIELDS OF DREAMS
BRUNSWICK BETS ON MEGASITES TO HELP DIVERSIFY ECONOMY BY SCOTT NUNN hile the “if we build it they will come” approach to attracting industry comes with no guarantees, the chances of success are high right now, according to a Wilmington-based site-selection veteran. “If you [do] not have any buildings and sites, then you don’t have anything to sell,” said Robin Spinks, a partner with Greenfield, a business-recruitment and site-selection consulting firm. And it’s not just buildings that attract industries – it’s buildings
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in the right location and with adequate infrastructure, locations where businesses can get their operations up and running in a relatively short time. That’s what Brunswick County hopes to offer at two 1,000-acre-plus “certified megasites” off U.S. 74/76 along the Columbus County line. Being “certified” means the state has guaranteed a site meets more than 30 prerequisites, including the proper zoning designation, a Phase I environmental audit, availability of public utilities, an industrial-level power supply and engineered site-development plans. Both Brunswick and Columbus counties are promoting the International Logistics Park, which spans the county line. The other megasite – the Mid-Atlantic Industrial Rail Park – sits entirely in Brunswick County. Columbus is considered a Tier 1 – economically distressed – county by the state, making it eligible for great-
er levels of assistance. (Brunswick currently is a Tier 2 on the three-tier scale, with Tier 3 the least-distressed.) While fast-growing coastal Brunswick has become best known as a retirement and tourism destination, thousands of acres of rural land make the county ripe for industrial development, said Spinks, whose firm has done consulting work for Brunswick Business & Industry Development (BID), the agency charged with recruiting industry to the county. “They are trying to diversify their economy and use their assets,” Spinks said. “And from a physical standpoint, the county is large enough. Brunswick is basically three different places; it’s Leland, Belville and Navassa, basically a suburb of Wilmington; it’s Southport and the beaches; and then it is the rural western part of the county. So there’s See MEGASITES, page 7
