Shell and speculative buildings offer ready-made commercial real estate solutions

This article was written for our sponsor, Nash County Economic Development

From Pfizer and Cummins to The Cheesecake Factory and Honeywell Aerospace, many businesses and industries are moving to Nash County, the thriving community between the Research Triangle Region and I-95. These companies all recognized Nash's unmatched opportunities in transportation accessibility, including highways, air, rail, seaport, and the region's growing and diverse workforce. This is all without mentioning the beautiful climate, landscape and community.

But now, there is even greater incentive for industries to move to Nash with the availability of ready-made commercial real estate solutions.

A considerable difficulty for any industry in this economy is finding a suitable location to do business. It is expensive and often time-prohibitive to build from the ground up. Meanwhile, existing buildings are rarely available unless showing significant signs of disrepair. The existing buildings often don't have what it takes to meet today's economic industrial needs.

To answer the need, private investors and Nash County are working to provide two types of opportunities: shell and speculative buildings. Both offer ready-made products with slightly different nuances that help businesses hit the ground running.

Speculative Buildings

Speculative buildings are built with the Field of Dreams idea of, "If you build it, they will come." Private investors scope communities and locations to find ideal places for industries to build. They will then invest in a speculative building, a fully functional, nearly move-in-ready structure designed for the type of business they hope to attract.

Dan DiLella, senior vice president of Equus Capital Partners, is leading the effort for the East Carolina 95 Logistics Center, a 400,000-square-foot speculative building in Rocky Mount, Nash County. The industrial-zoned property sits on nearly 40 acres of prime real estate at I-95. Amenities include drive-in doors, loading docks, a 7-inch slab, utilities, power, a sprinkler system, 185 car parking spaces (with an option to add 240 more), and 85 truck trailer storage spaces (with an option to add 85 more).

When scoping possible locations for the investment, Nash was the logical choice. DiLella said, "The eastern half of North Carolina is seeing population growth and more and more manufacturing. When you combine all those dynamics with the ease of transportation like the CSX [Carolina] Connector, we thought we could really build something here."

Shell Buildings

Designed to be bought and customized to meet the unique needs of a business, shell buildings consist of four walls and a ceiling. The option is perfect for businesses that want to purchase and own their infrastructure and have control of the specifications like flooring, lighting, etc. While the move-in time will be greater than that of a speculative building, shell buildings save businesses significant time as they can avoid a large part of the approval and ground-breaking process.

Unlike speculative buildings, which are more likely to be leased to industries that may have homogenous spacing needs, shell buildings are built solely to sell to a company looking to begin their operations quickly. "We are not in the real estate business; we are in the job creating business," said Andy Hagy, Nash County Director of Economic Development.

The goal is to attract businesses that will, in turn, create steady and well-paying jobs for the local economy. It's a strategy that has proven so successful for Nash that they currently have three shell buildings underway. The public dollars that go toward these shell buildings bring a return on investment that lasts decades, if not generations.

Hagy said, "The buildings put Nash County in a more competitive position to respond to industrial prospects who offer tremendous opportunities for quality job growth, innovation, and tax base expansion." For Nash County to have three shell buildings which encompass over 200,000 square feet under development in 2023 speaks volumes towards its commitment to creating good jobs and tax revenue for the county," said Hagy.

DiLella added, "I look at communities like Nash County and see their attributes like great transportation, great access to labor, and favorable taxes. Also, you're going to have the people who really want these jobs, so you have low turnover. For industries that need these types of buildings and are looking for a good workforce, this is where they want to be."

This article was written for our sponsor, Nash County Economic Development