Officials from Mebane, Graham, and the county gathered Monday afternoon for a groundbreaking for one of the county’s newest industrial projects – two large warehouse buildings planned for the North Carolina Commerce Park, a Hawfields-area industrial park which is a joint venture of the three governmental entities.
The industrial park is already home to Walmart, Lidl, and Amazon distribution centers; and the largest project, a UPS distribution center occupying one million square feet, is under construction next to the site of the two warehouses.
Crow Holdings Development, a Texas-based real estate development company – founded 75 years ago by Texas developer Trammell Crow – received approval last December from Mebane’s city council to build three warehouses on about 90 acres at the entrance to the industrial park.
Since then, the project has been narrowed to two warehouses – one of 156,000 square feet with 35 truck bays and a second, larger one with 248,000 square feet with 44 truck bays.
The 32.5 acre parcel where a third warehouse had been approved (on the corner of Trollingwood-Hawfields Road and facing I-85/40) has, instead, become the site of a potential Buc-ee’s Travel Plaza, although those plans are still pending with Mebane’s planning department.
[Story continues below architectural renderings of the warehouses on the Mebane site.]
Crow Holdings has built more than 68 million square feet of industrial space, observed Matt Cochrane, the managing director of Industrial Crow Holdings Development, who was the company’s lead spokesman at the groundbreaking Monday.
Nick Thornton, the Development Associate for the Carolinas who was also present for the groundbreaking and been on the lead Crow employee leading the Alamance County project, stated, “When planning new developments, [the company] targets strong communities looking to grow their manufacturing and logistics industries. Therefore, we found the City of Mebane and Alamance County to be ideal partners. [Crow Holdings Development] is excited to build two state-of-the-art Class A industrial facilities at the entrance to North Carolina Commerce Park while working with the City of Mebane and Alamance County to bring best-in-class companies to the area.”
[Story continues below photos of the groundbreaking.]
Cochrane observed that CBRE, a Greensboro-based real estate company, will lead the search for two companies that will ultimately occupy the two warehouse facilities being built by Crow.
Mebane mayor Ed Hooks noted in remarks prior to the groundbreaking, “Mebane, in partnership with the City of Graham, Alamance County officials, and local leaders, recognized that our communities would have to partner and invest in our infrastructure to remain economically viable and attractive for industries.”
In addition to Hooks, brief remarks were made by Alamance County commissioner chairman John P. Paisley, Jr., Graham mayor Jennifer Talley, and Alamance County Chamber of Commerce president Reagan Gural.
See story on the original announcement of the warehouse projects: https://alamancenews.com/more-warehouses-texas-based-company-plans-3-in-hawfields-area-industrial-park-683000-sq-ft/
City council approves rezoning for the warehouses: https://alamancenews.com/mebane-oks-warehouses-absolutely-no-quid-pro-quo-for-developer-donating-land-for-city-fire-station/
Also subsequent story on Buc-ee’s plans for one of the Crow parcels: https://alamancenews.com/buc-ees-eyes-mebane-for-first-n-c-location/
