$3M state-funded shell building breaks ground at SouthPark Industrial Center

WALLACE — Local dignitaries, including town and county representatives, gathered in SouthPark Industrial Center near Wallace on Sept. 3, for a groundbreaking ceremony where a new 50,000-square-foot shell building is being constructed. The shell building is the first one in SouthPark that is being built through the Duplin County Economic Development Commission with funding from North Carolina Legislature.

“In my opinion, a shell building is one of the biggest items in the economic development toolbox,” Duplin County Economic Development Board Chairman Charley Farrior said during remarks at the event. “Having a shell building available is the first step in getting a client into the county. It makes a major statement about your county’s commitment to economic development.”

Farrior said the new SouthPark shell building will be the fifth shell building constructed in the Wallace area since 1978. The previous ones were built by the Wallace 100 Committee, which Farrior added is “unfortunately no longer active.”

All four of the previously constructed shell buildings are occupied by active industries.

“They have become very important to Duplin County and provide many jobs,” Farrior said. “These buildings contribute to the tax base of Duplin County and that’s very important.”

Speaking of the tax base, Farrior referenced the controversial recent property revaluations in the county and said he wanted to assure local taxpayers that funding for the new SouthPark shell building, as well as another one being built in the Airpark, did not come from property taxes.

“We were able to construct both of these buildings through a special appropriation from the North Carolina General Assembly,” Farrior said.

In an interview with Duplin Journal, Duplin County Economic Development Commission Executive Director Scotty Summerlin said the $3 million cost of the new SouthPark shell building came from a total of $80 million appropriated by the state to help spur economic growth in rural areas of North Carolina. Duplin County was awarded $12 million from that special allocation.

In Farrior’s remarks, he referenced the success of a shell building constructed in nearby Wayne County as an example of an economic windfall that can come from investing in industrial properties.

“In May of this year, Wayne County Development Alliance sold two shell buildings, one 50,000 square feet, one 30,000 square feet, to one industry, Pelsan Tekstil,” Farrior said. “This company plans to create 216 new jobs and invest $82.6 million in new capital.”

During closing comments at the groundbreaking ceremony, Summerlin gave the statistics on the new building, mentioning that the 50,000-square-foot facility will have a 30-foot-ceiling giving it a great deal of room for a large number of potential industries. He called the recent investments by the Economic Development Commission “generational change.”

Immediately after the ceremony, crews from Daniels and Daniels Construction, the Goldsboro-based company awarded the contract, began work at the site.