Economic Development

REGION IN FOCUS: PENDER COUNTY ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT Industrial park gaining momentum

Economic developers are working to bring more business to the Pender Industrial Park.

An update to the master plan for the park, located in Burgaw, was completed in February, said Scott Satterfield, CEO of Wilmington Business Development (WBD), the economic development organization serving Wilmington and New Hanover and Pender counties. WBD and Four County Electric Membership Corp. started working with engineering firm Thomas & Hutton late last year on the update, he said.

Now that it is complete, economic developers, along with Pender County, the town of Burgaw and other corporate partners are using the plan to continue to market the Pender Industrial Park to generate jobs and investment in the region, Satterfield said.

“Light manufacturing and food processing are amongst our targets for the Pender Industrial Park,” he said. “The proximity to major players in the ag industry differentiates this park from other regional product that we market.”

Pender Industrial Park, different from Pender Commerce Park, currently has about 115 acres available to build on. Land within the park is all privately owned, and there are various tracts located at the site.

“All existing buildings at the Pender Industrial Park are occupied, but there is significant acreage available for new industrial development,” Satterfield said.

Existing industries there include American Skin, Packaging 151 Co., Phoenix Molded Plastics, Mojotone, Wilmington Box Co., Niels Jorgensen Co., Windsor Fiberglass and Cardinal Foods.

Earlier this year, Cardinal Foods announced that it would expand its facility, 201 Progress Drive, by 56,000 square feet to grow its food processing business. At the time, officials said the investment would make Cardinal Foods one of the largest sweet potato fry manufacturers in the world.

“It’s very exciting to see the industrial momentum in the Burgaw market. It’s not limited to the Cardi-

CHRISTINA HALEY O’NEAL nal Foods expansion announcement either,” Satterfield said. “There are fantastic niche manufacturers in Burgaw … really some of the Greater Wilmington region’s most interesting and unknown success stories … this is really becoming a strong industrial cluster and destination for worldclass operations.”

Another key to this park is having the availability of sites that have the infrastructure needed to attract industry. The Pender Industrial Park meets several checkmarks, including water and sewer and electric and fiber lines, Satterfield said.

“We feel that we are in the best position we’ve been in many years on that front,” he said.

The park and the updated plan adds to a growing network of available sites and buildings that are in the region for industry recruitment.

“The name of the game is providing multiple options,” Satterfield added. “Each client/prospect has specific needs and specific interests. Some may be attracted to proximity to downtown Wilmington, the port, airport, etc. For others it’s about a workforce that can support a niche manufacturing base, the desire to be near business partners, or competitively priced land. The list goes on and on of potential influencing factors when making a relocation or expansion decision.”

MAP C/O WILMINGTON BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT Marketing tool: An updated master plan helps sell Pender Industrial Park.

American adds to Boston nonstop; travel rebounds

The Wilmington International Airport’s new nonstop route to Boston has taken flight and is on an expanded schedule.

The American Airlines’ nonstop service between ILM and Boston Logan International Airport (BOS) is running five days a week, a change from the airline’s original plan to run a Saturday-only nonstop service, according to a news release.

The BOS nonstop flights do not run on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, said Gary Broughton, ILM’s deputy airport director, in an email.

The nonstop flight began last month, adding to a growing number of routes and flight capacity by ILM’s three commercial airlines, American, Delta Air Lines and United Airlines.

Many routes have been reinstated this year following an uptick in demand for flights, which are growing the number of travelers through ILM.

“It does appear that due to pentup demand, our leisure travelers are anxious to return to normal vacation travel,” Broughton said. “The return of full business travel as well will certainly improve our passenger numbers. We are excited at this earlier-than-expected rebound.”

The most recent passenger figures for May show a stark increase in passengers year over year.

Travelers in May totaled nearly 78,900, an increase from the nearly 14,400 passengers flying in and out of ILM in May 2020 during the early months of the pandemic. The May figures, however, are still down 21% from the more than 99,700 people traveling through ILM in May 2019.

Airport officials say those figures are creeping back up to normal levels.

“According to June trends, ILM’s passenger counts are hovering around 95-99% of 2019 levels,” the news release stated. “Passenger numbers are back to pre-COVID levels.”

And to handle the extra foot traffic at ILM, the airport recently added a third TSA lane at its terminal that can be “opened at the TSA’s supervisor’s discretion,” officials said.

The additional lane will help accommodate peaks in passenger screening demand at ILM.

Port to link to future Rocky Mount CCX terminal

Port of Wilmington officials look to link to the Carolina Connector in Rocky Mount this year, opening the port’s rail connectivity to the Midwest.

N.C. Ports officials are in the planning stages with Florida-based CSX Transportation to connect to the Rocky Mount facility this fall, said Hans Bean, N.C. Ports’ chief commercial officer. That connectivity could help provide more logistics options for exporters and importers.

The Carolina Connector, or CCX, is under construction and is slated to be operational later this year. The CSX project, previously estimated at about $160 million, is being funded in part with up to $118 million in NCDOT funds for site development and roadway construction.

“The details of the model and the product, those are still in a sense a work in progress with CSX. So, all that is not completed yet,” Bean said of the port’s CCX intermodal service, which will offer N.C. Ports another inland capability.

“It will function as a gateway to the Midwest and an inland port for us for that northeast part of the state,” Bean said. “It’s twofold; one of the larger facets is that inland connectivity and to be able to also serve that region of the state with a new inland gateway like the Charlotte Inland Port.”

Making a lasting impact in Coastal North Carolina

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Working together

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