By Collin Huguley – Staff Writer, Charlotte Business Journal
Original Post from Charlotte Business Journal
An out-of-state real estate investment firm is leading a new industrial development in the Charlotte region.
Growth Capital Partners, which is based in Birmingham, Alabama, is working with Phelan-Bennett Development to build Northwest Gateway Logistics Park in Gastonia. The project calls for two industrial buildings totaling nearly 299,000 square feet at 1215 Jenkins Road.
Avison Young’s Henry Lobb, who is helping lead leasing for the project, said a groundbreaking is expected by the end of the second quarter. Delivery for the project is being targeted for the second quarter of 2023.
Lobb and Avison Young’s Gray Gaines are handling the leasing efforts at Northwest Gateway Logistics Park on behalf of GCP. The architect for the project is Calvin J. Coatsworth of Carlile Coatsworth Architects.
The project is near Exit 14 of Interstate 85, which Lobb said was a key factor in the developer’s interest in the site. The project site is also in a hot area for industrial within Gaston County, which includes other projects nearby such as Trinity Capital Advisors’ Delta Industrial Park, an 876,587-square-foot project on Delta Drive.
The buildings at Northwest Gateway Logistics Park are expected to be 166,370 square feet and 132,487 square feet. The larger building is slated to have 140 vehicle stalls, 11 trailer stalls and 32 dock-high doors. The smaller building is being planned to include 25 dock-high doors, along with 113 vehicle stalls and 11 trailer stalls. Both buildings will have 32-foot clear heights.
Lobb said the buildings can either be for a single tenant or multiple users. Spaces at the park can start as low as the 40,000- to 50,000-square-foot range, he added. The project team believes that Northwest Gateway Logistics Park offers buildings and available spaces in the size range needed in the Charlotte industrial market now.
An entity affiliated with GCP purchased the 17.3-acre site earlier this month for $1.2 million, according to Gaston County real estate records.
The project is the first industrial development by GCP in the Charlotte market under its new GCP Fund II. That fund includes industrial investments largely in the Southeast, according to the GCP website. It includes active projects and assets in Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, Florida and Texas. GCP’s Fund I industrial portfolio was sold in 2020 for more than $800 million.
“GCP is excited to team up again with Houston-based developer Phelan-Bennett to bring a new development to Charlotte,” GCP’s Michael Flynn said in a statement to the Charlotte Business Journal. “Charlotte is experiencing tremendous growth and GCP is pleased to be back in the Queen City. ”
GCP, which formerly operated under the name Graham Commercial Properties, once owned a 464,974-square-foot industrial building at 10000 Twin Lakes Parkway in Charlotte. That building was sold in 2020 to the entity then known as Exeter Property Group for $27.6 million.
GCP’s newest project adds to Gaston County’s robust industrial pipeline. Among the most notable industrial developments in the county is NorthPoint Development’s Gateway85, a 365-acre industrial park that will include several million square feet of space upon full buildout.
