Improving Business in the Wilmington Region

Home Depot, National Building Supplier Sign Leases In Pender Commerce Park

BY EMMA DILL, GWBJ

A rendering of Ramm Capital Partner’s speculatively developed industrial warehouse shows the 144,900-square-foot facility in the Pender Commerce Park. (Rendering courtesy of Wilmington Business Development)

A familiar home improvement retailer and a building products supplier with a national presence are set to be the newest tenants in Pender Commerce Park.

Home Depot USA and Lansing Building Products have signed leases for space inside a 144,900-square-foot industrial building developed by Winston-Salem-based Ramm Captial Partners LLC. The building at 310 Corporate Drive is the investment firm’s second venture inside the business park.

“We’re 83% leased with a Fortune 100 and a national building company,” said Chris Ramm, a partner with Ramm Capital Partners LLC, on Thursday. “We’re just real excited to have the majority of the building pre-leased prior to finishing it.”

Construction on the speculative building wrapped up this summer. The building received its certificate of occupancy this week, according to Ramm. Even with rising interest rates, the appetite for large industrial warehouse space in the Cape Fear region is holding steady.

Home Depot is currently in the process of moving into its leased space, according to Ramm. He said he wasn’t able to provide additional details about the company’s leasing terms.

Atlanta-based Home Depot has more than 2,300 retail stores worldwide, according to the company’s website, including two New Hanover County locations. This year, the business was ranked No. 20 on the list of the nation’s top-grossing companies by Fortune Magazine with more than $157 million in revenue and more than 470,000 employees.

Home Depot representatives did not respond to a request for comment before publication deadline.

The second tenant, Lansing Building Products, plans to move into the industrial space early next year, said Dave Wollschleger, the company’s Wilmington branch manager, on Thursday. The company’s eight-year lease for nearly 66,000 square feet of industrial space is set to begin Feb. 1, he said.

The business, which supplies siding, roofing, windows and other exterior building products, has 112 branches across 35 states, according to the company’s website. The local branch has far outgrown its current building at 208 Antilles Court in Kings Grant, Wollschleger said. The new space will be more than double the square footage of the current site.

“With the growth that Wilmington’s experiencing right now, being able to have that larger space in a new facility is going to be a game-changer for us,” he said.

The newly leased space will be used to store materials needed for deliveries and customer pick-ups, Wollschleger said. An uptick in population and development across the Cape Fear region has helped fuel the company’s expansion in recent years, according to Wollschleger.

“We’re just trying to keep up with that growth,” he said.

As for the remaining space in the industrial building, Ramm said he’s in discussions with “a couple of different companies” about leasing.

“No leases signed, but we’re having good activity on it,” he said. “I’m not worried about it.”