Carroll Cos. to build 176,000-square-foot spec building at South Rockingham Industrial Park

By Andy Warfield | Triad Business Journal

As the building for the first occupant of South Rockingham Industrial Park nears completion, a division of Greensboro’s Carroll Cos. is preparing to break ground on a 176,000-square-foot spec building in the park at the interchange of Interstate 73 and N.C. Highway 65.

The new building, developed by park owner and developer Carroll Industrial Development U.S., will be located across N.C. 65 from Belgium-based Ontex Group’s 250,000-square-foot manufacturing plant, which is scheduled to open this fall. The spec building’s parking lot will have space for 140 cars and 16 trailers.

“We have a number of inquiries on all of our sites continuously, but we’re excited about the opportunity with the level of product in Rockingham County and the number of opportunities that they are seeing there,” said Carroll Cos. Vice President of Industrial Business Development Evan Stone. “We think there’s some really good synergy there that we can build off of. Interest is good and now that we have been able to start doing some marketing, interest has picked up even more from the broker community.”

Stone said he expects to break ground in mid-July with a targeted completion by the end of the first quarter.

The entrance to the spec site will be directly across N.C. 65 from the Ontex entrance, with frontage along I-73. The park is located just across the Guilford County line, about 15 minutes northwest of Piedmont Triad International Airport. The building and parking lot will occupy about 25 of the park’s approximately 250 acres.

Stone said the building will be suitable for light industrial, assembly, warehouse and distribution, last-mile distribution, overflow warehousing “or any number of users that may or may not be in the market or already may be in the airport submarket.”

Dimensions of the building are 220 feet by 800 feet. Ceiling height is 32 feet. 

Carroll Cos. has not disclosed the amount of investment it is making in the spec building. Omega Construction of Winston-Salem is the general contractor. Atlas Collaboration of Atlanta is the project architect.

At 176,000 square feet, Carroll’s planned spec falls between the sizes of several other specs in the works across the Triad. The 100,000 to 150,000-square-foot range has historically been popular for industrial specs in the Triad, with Upland Development working toward a 110,000-square-foot spec in the Union Cross area. 

On the larger end, Front Street Capital of Winston-Salem has been planning a 250,000-square foot building at the new 115-acre Park at 74, near Union Cross. NFI Industries of Camden, New Jersey, is developing a speculative 350,000-square-foot distribution center at 3801 Burlington Road, just inside the Greensboro Urban Loop. Meanwhile, Williams Development and Ramm Capital Partners, both based in Winston-Salem, are working on a 280,550-square-foot spec on 21 acres at Youngs Mill Industrial Park, just south of the intersection of Interstates 40 and 85 and the Greensboro Urban Loop.