This drone shot shows the Burke Business Park, where the county is constructing an industrial shell building. The building pictured is the Unix Packaging complex, which broke ground in January 2023. The spec building will be nearby.
This drone shot shows the Burke Business Park, where the county is constructing an industrial shell building. The building pictured is the Unix Packaging complex, which broke ground in January 2023. The spec building will be nearby.
Burke County means business when it comes to constructing a speculative industrial building at Burke Business Park.
Civil engineering — preparing infrastructure for a construction project — is currently underway for the shell building at the park near Exit 96 on Interstate 40 west of Morganton.
The engineering firm of McGill Associates has begun grading on the property. The architectural firm of WHN (Charlotte) will handle design.
Once the engineering is finished, the design phase is expected to take seven to eight weeks, County Manager Brian Epley said.
“Following that, we’ll have bid documents, and that’s when we’ll go to market for general contractors to propose pricing on the construction component,” Epley said. “But we’re just not quite there yet.”
Throughout the process, Epley has remained optimistic the building could be completed by the end of the year.
Funds for the project are coming from $20 million of the $36 million the state of North Carolina allocated for construction of the Great Meadows industrial site in fall of 2023.
Since Great Meadows, known locally as the megasite, is a long-term project that may take a decade to come to fruition, county officials asked the state for flexibility in using the money set aside for the project.
The request was part of State Bill 382, which was passed last December. The county has three years to build and sell the new facility and place the $20 million back in the Great Meadows fund, but there would be no punitive measures from the state if that doesn’t happen.
Epley said there are a number of factors to consider when designing the building. The county has met with WHN for an initial meeting to discuss the particulars.
He added the meeting included discussions about things like the size of the building, construction materials, floor composition, plumbing, and electrical design.
Interestingly, a for-sale listing for a .49-acre tract at the business park recently made the rounds on LoopNet, an internet real estate service. Epley said the listing was likely a mistake, and that no county land is actively for sale at this time.
The LoopNet listing has since been taken down.
Marty Queen is the senior reporter. He may be reached at 828-445-8595 ormarty@thepaper.media.
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