By Collin Huguley
Staff Writer, Charlotte Business Journal
As the Charlotte industrial sector remains red hot, another group is moving into a submarket farther out in the region for a project.
Maryland-based MacKenzie Investment Group secured final rezoning approval for a nearly 110-acre site in Chester County last month. Gavin Gill, director of investments for MacKenzie, told the Charlotte Business Journal that the group is plotting a large industrial project there. The site is at S.C. Highway 9 and Interstate 77, just offExit 65. It neighbors Giti Tire’s large Richburg manufacturing plant.
A specific site plan for the project has not yet been finalized, Gill said, but the property can fit around 1.2 million square feet of industrial building space. The largest building at the site will likely land somewhere in the 700,000- to 800,000-square-foot range. Gill and his team are considering both speculative and build-to-suit development at the site.
MacKenzie does not have any active projects currently in the Charlotte region, Gill said, but it is one of the group’s target areas because of the region’s population growth. The Chester County site’s close proximity to I-77 made it attractive to MacKenzie, as it could be an appealing location for distribution and light manufacturing users that need to access ports.
“We think that is where the market is moving in greater Charlotte,” Gill said.
Charlotte-based Oak Engineering is working with MacKenzie on the project. Cushman & Wakefield’s Matt Treble and Fermin Deoca are leading leasing efforts on behalf of MacKenzie. A firm timeline for the project’s construction has not yet been set, Gill said.
Chester County has been referred to by some market observers as an industrial submarket that could heat up as developers look farther out into the region for industrial sites. Its proximity to I-77 makes sense for distribution uses as momentum moves south along the interstate. Much of that momentum has been carrying north along I-77 already, as the Statesville area is seeing a flurry of speculative industrial interest.
Elsewhere in Chester County, a large industrial site is beginning to be unlocked for industrial development. The first building at Magnolia Industrial Park, a 724-acre site in Richburg, was announced in March as a 105,000-square-foot speculative building.