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Ground cleared for building
Work to begin in January at Triad Business Park
Journal Photo by Jennifer Rotenizer
Earth movers work at the site of a 350,000-square-foot building to be built by Samet Corp. at the Triad Business Park.
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Published: October 24, 2008
KERNERSVILLE - Ground is being cleared as preparation work begins at the Triad Business Park where local officials expect to generate a tax base of well more than $100 million.
The development company behind the project, Samet Corp. of Greensboro, has begun site work for a "spec building" in the 378-acre Triad Business Park off East Mountain Street and Old Greensboro Road east of Kernersville, near the Forsyth and Guilford county line. A spec building is one built on speculation that there will be future demand for the building by other businesses. Samet is the manager and developer of the park, which is owned by TDO Land Holding LLC.
Samet is also the lead contractor building the baseball stadium in Winston-Salem at Business 40 and Peters Creek Parkway.
The park has been a long-term goal for town officials.
"The town of Kernersville has been working on the development of a business park in that area for over eight years, and of course, was extremely fortunate to work with the private development group of TDO to make that a reality," said Jeff Hatling, Kernersville's director of community development.
In addition to Samet's spec building, there has been other activity in the park in recent weeks.
FedEx Ground Package System Inc. recently bought 127 acres in the park for $15.4 million. It is going through the permitting process, but it has said that the project is still not a done deal.
Hatling said that Samet is a reputable company that is active throughout the Triad and has the ability to bring in clients it has worked with in the past and to sell the park to such companies as FedEx Ground.
He said that the spec building is evidence of Samet's strength.
Rick Davenport, the vice president of client services for Samet, said that the company's goal is to build a flexible, quality building that appeals to businesses interested in value and who want to manufacture and distribute goods to the mid-Atlantic region.
"We've found that where we can spend our time and money investing in something that has a good scale and a lot of flexibility in an area where the community is pro business, we'll be successful," Davenport said.
Triad Business Park is a cooperative effort between the city of Kernersville, the city of High Point, Forsyth County and Guilford County.
Water services will be provided to the park from the City-County Utility Commission in Winston-Salem, and High Point will provide sanitary-sewer services through a deal with Kernersville.
Kernersville annexed the park and will receive city taxes from the property, and Guilford County will receive county taxes.
Kernersville officials originally estimated that the park would generate a tax base worth more than $100 million. But it is already expanding and town officials now estimate a tax base of about $170 million, especially if FedEx Ground builds a $110 million regional shipping center.
"We anticipate Triad Business Park to continue to expand, which will allow for additional tax base," Hatling said.
Samet is pressing ahead with its plans for the site, which means building the spec building and making the development of the business park flexible. Samet likes to have at least one spec building on a property to attract customers.
The company's goal is to have a spec building ready to go so that design and internal construction for a customer can be completed within 90 days. Samet expects to begin construction on the 350,000-square-foot building in January and have it completed by April. The building will be for sale or lease. It is part of the first of two phases of Triad Business Park.
As for building a business park in the midst of a national economic downturn, Davenport said that Samet remains optimistic.
"We feel that we are in a very vibrant area of North Carolina and have a solid project and solid fundamentals and will be successful," he said.
Samet's projects include the development of Piedmont Corporate Park in High Point and the N.C. Industrial Center in Mebane. The company has 2.9 million square feet of property in the Triad, of which 2.81 million square feet is in industrial buildings.
■ Fran Daniel can be reached at 727-7366 or at fdaniel@wsjournal.com.
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