‘You can’t sell cornfields anymore.”
That was the proclamation that Terry Bralley, president of the Davie County Economic Development Commission, made in January 2019 when the county unveiled a three-phase speculative building plan at Davie Industrial Center.
The 73-acre former farmland site is at Interstate Drive and Gildan Drive in Mocksville, just off Interstate 40.
Bralley acknowledged then that Davie officials were taking a calculated risk on the $50 million construction of the buildings, which would be 420,660 square feet, 324,000 square feet and 176,018 square feet.
“But we have a great community here, and the ability to assist with getting state and federal grants to help put deals together,” Bralley said.
Fast forward nearly three years, and the industrial park has its first move-in tenant in Hayward Holdings.
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Hayward, which makes pool equipment and associated automation systems, is the most largest of six economic-development announcements between July 8 and Oct. 1, representing a combined pledge of at least 188 jobs and a combined capital investment total of at least $57 million.
Hayward aims to begin distribution operations soon in the 324,000-square-foot facility as part of a $25 million capital investment.
Hayward plans a full-production workforce of 200 at the Mocksville facility, with 50 new jobs, along with 150 employees transferred from its Clemmons facility where it had 747 full-time and 174 part-time jobs as of March.
Although just one of the three spec buildings has a tenant thus far, Bralley said that is by design.
“Now, that our existing spec building is committed, we are receiving interest in our pad-ready sites,” Bralley said last week.
“Companies today are looking for a building shell that can be customized and up and running in 90 to 120 days.
“In today’s world of speed to market, communities without a building program can’t compete in our global marketplace.”
Loren Hill, regional economic development director for the 17-county Carolina Core, said that regional economic developers “are well aware that having currently available buildings gets the attention of company officials who are searching for a new facility.”
“More and more companies are in a hurry to find the right building in the right location, so that they can get in operation as soon as possible.”
Davie’s momentum
The largest of the other five projects involves global chemical company Scott Bader, which is planning a $16 million capital investment in an 110,000-square-foot facility at Mocksville’s SouthPoint Business Park off U.S. 601.
The plant on a 15-acre site is being developed into a gelcoat and structural adhesives manufacturing facility. The plan is to create 27 jobs, including 21 in manufacturing, and to be operational in the first quarter of 2023.
The others are:
*Liberty Storage Solutions, which has plans for up to an 80,000-square-foot production facility on a 33-acre site it recently purchased.
The company projects an overall $8 million capital investment with 50 new jobs over three years. The capital investment could include creating two new companies.
* Dr. Friest Automotive moving from a 28,000-square foot facility in Mount Airy to an 110,000-square-foot leased facility at 300 Bethel Church Road with production set to begin by year’s end.
DFA has 33 employees in Mount Airy, of which 26 plans to remain with the company through the move. The company expects to hire at least 23 employees.
* Sportsfield Specialties, a New York manufacturer of athletic field equipment, is moving its softgoods operation from Salisbury to Mocksville as part of a $2.3 million capital investment.
* Carolina Shutters & Blinds has relocated from Winston-Salem to the Willow Oaks Shopping Center in Mocksville to expand its shutters production capacity.
The company has transferred its 18 employees and is attempting to hire production workers, as well as installers, design consultants and administrative support staff.
“Each of these new companies was brought to our community because the brokers knew we had product (buildings),” Bralley said.
Sportsfield
Sportsfield Specialties brings an intriguing product mix to the Triad manufacturing sector.
It will produce netting systems, padding and mats in the 77,000-square-foot facility at 155 Boyce Drive.
The expansion is projected to create up to 20 jobs over the next two years in production, operations, engineering and administration. Most of its Salisbury workforce is expected to transfer to the Mocksville facility.
Matt Schwirtz, the company’s North Carolina operations manager, said the move adds 11,000 square feet of production space, as well as increases its office space by 7,000 square feet. The company plans a $2.3 million building expansion project that will add 30,000 square feet to the plant.
The company said the impetus for the move is the increased demand for large-scale barrier netting systems and sweeping graphic wall pad displays.
Its product can be found in 23 MLB stadiums and countless practice facilities, as well as Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, venues with Duke and Wake Forest, and minor league stadiums that include the Kannapolis Cannon Ballers, High Point Rockers, Charlotte Knights and Durham Bulls.
“We’re manufacturing products that solve problems and clients know they can trust,” Schwirtz said. “Our success has led to more demand, and as a result, we’ve grown out of our Salisbury plant.”
Sportsfield president Sean Clark said moving to Mocksville “provides our operations and production team with the necessary space, resources and working environment to perform at the highest level possible.”
“We’ve enjoyed getting to know fellow business leaders and local officials, who’ve all made us feel welcomed in Mocksville.
“We’re proud to be joining this community and look forward to becoming a contributing member,” Clark said.
Hollingsworth
Bralley said the recent Davie economic announcements started with public/private partnerships that go back to the previous century.
For example, SouthPoint Industrial Park, just north of Interstate 40 on U.S. 601, was founded in 1998 by The Hollingsworth Cos.
Phases I and II of SouthPoint have been built out with buildings ranging from 50,000 to 500,000 square feet.
Hollingsworth is building out Phase III, with the recent extension of Enterprise Way freeing up more than 100 acres for lots.
Keeping with the speculative theme, Hollingsworth is offering “virtually complete” buildings, four of which are finish-to-suit projects comprising more than 570,000 square feet and one build-to-suit facility.
“We have built and delivered eight buildings, while at the same time creating hundreds of new jobs for the community,” Hollingsworth said.
“Our relationship with local and county officials provides an excellent example of how we create and value long term-relationships.”
Bralley said that “most of the larger building users will need suppliers, which could end up in our Hollingsworth Park.”
Fruitful relationships
Bralley said in January 2019 that Davie Industrial Park went from proposal to construction when Bill Junker, owner of Trailers of the East Coast in Mocksville.
Junker said he got involved because “I’m sort of an entrepreneur, I love to take on new challenges.”
Junker said he was inspired by Bralley’s decades-long vision that the corridor between U.S. 601 and U.S. 64 “would be the lifeline future of Mocksville.”
Bralley said the “ability to attract outside investors that believe in your economy and want to participate is how you develop a community. You bring outside dollars in.”
Bralley said another key element of the buy-in from public officials and private investors was a commitment to recruit industries that would allow Davie residents to work in their home county, rather than commute to jobs in Forsyth, Rowan, Yadkin and other neighboring counties.
Those successes include the landing of the mammoth Ashley Furniture manufacturing and distribution plant in Advance and the Gildan Yards manufacturing plant next to Davie Industrial Park.
Ashley’s 3.8 million-square-foot East Coast manufacturing and distribution facility is its largest plant overall.
Ashley has spent more than $250 million on capital investments on the plant, where it has more than 1,600 employees and remains in constant hiring mode to serve new production lines.
Gildan, meanwhile, has more than 200 employees at its $142 million plant.
“The Gildan project opened up this area for industrial development with a road, water, sewer and gas,” Bralley said.
“So, indirectly, the Gildan project allowed this development to take place.”
Forsyth prospects
The planned Davie industrial park came on line at a time when Forsyth and Guilford counties are feeling the pinch of limited available land for industrial use.
Union Cross Business Park, based in southeastern Forsyth, has been thriving with 16 buildings, but is nearly full.
Among its tenants are Bekaert Textiles, Liberty Hardware Manufacturing Corp., The Clearing House, Pepsi Bottling Ventures LLC and Post Consumer Brands.
On a promising note: there has been plenty of commercial real-estate activity in the business park this year
For example, in June a Charlotte private-equity investment group paid $9.15 million to buy a vacant 10.61-acre site identified as Lot 19B with an address of 289 Business Park Drive. According to the county Tax Parcel, the property could provide up to 125,000 square feet of leasable space.
Bigger than Davie
Hill said Davie is benefiting from the collegial relationships that Bralley has forged with developers.
“That gives those developers the confidence to build a new facility without yet having a tenant lined up,” Hill said. “Terry’s doing that over the years is paying dividends now, as these recent announcements show.”
Although Davie may be getting the quantity headlines for manufacturing projects, Hill pointed out that the Triad’s manufacturing base is undergoing a mini revival.
For example, in August Nature’s Value Inc., a global vitamin and dietary supplements manufacturer, committed to expanding its Triad operations by taking a 426,000-square-foot site into the Whitaker Park business park in Winston-Salem.
The company, based in Coram, N.Y., has been manufacturing, packaging and distributing vitamin and dietary supplement products for private labels since 1992.
Nature’s Value has pledged to create more than 183 new jobs at the Whitaker Park site, along with putting $19 million toward investments including advanced manufacturing and testing equipment. Eric Billings, the company’s controller, said the goal is to begin production in early to mid-2023.
On Oct. 1, pharmaceutical manufacturer Cambrex Corp. pledged to create 78 new jobs in High Point as part of a $30 million manufacturing expansion.
“When the Carolina Core branding initiative was announced in August 2018, we proclaimed that one of the measures of our success would be to create at least 50,000 jobs in the Carolina Core in 20 years,” Hill said.
“Since that declaration, companies’ faith in our region, along with the work of our economic developers and allies, has led to more than 18,200 announced jobs in the Carolina Core
“We’ve attained more than 36% of the goal in just 15 percent of the time — so clearly, the Carolina Core is well on its way of surpassing that 50,000-job goal,” Hill said.