Improving Business in the Wilmington Region

Kesseböhmer Completes Phase I of Consolidated U.S. Headquarters

It’s been two years since Kesseböhmer announced plans for a consolidated U.S. headquarters in New Hanover County. The privately held metalworks company had previously operated out of downtown Wilmington office space and a leased warehouse in Leland. Its decision to build a $29 million facility off U.S. Highway 421 was an opportunity to create efficient, well-positioned operations in support of its growing market for retail merchandizing displays.

“The Phase 1 building is complete and we’ve moved in as of September,” says Andre Klehm, Vice President at Kesseböhmer, a German company founded in 1954. “We are now installing a custom-built metal fabrication line and a state-of-the-art powder coating system for production,” he says.

Kesseböhmer’s parent company has a sales presence in 80 countries, and its worldwide workforce totals more than 3,000.

The company’s other Wilmington-based brand, which does business as Kesseböhmer USA, arrived in the region in 2007 with the opening of a downtown sales office. The company ultimately intends to bring manufacturing operations to its 93,000-sq.-ft. space in Wilmington, which it partnered with McKinley Building Corporation to create. Plans for Phase 2 of “Project Stout” are on the horizon as Kesseböhmer develops new North American business.

“We currently have 33 people employed between both companies and plan to increase that to around 45 in 2026,” Klehm says. Its workforce currently consists of office staff and production line workers. Its customers are prominent consumer names like Sheetz, Lidl, Dunham Sports and Meijer, the Michigan-based superstore chain. “Retailers are excited about our investment in U.S. manufacturing,” Klehm says, sensing good visibility for the coming year. “We are quoting some very large projects that could rapidly propel us in 2026,” he says.

Kesseböhmer’s new facility sits across U.S. Highway 421 from Wilmington Trade Center, the first-ever speculative Class A industrial development in New Hanover County featuring a Wilmington address. In May, local officials joined executives from Edgewater Ventures and McKinley Building Company to break ground on an additional 170 acres at the property. They also marked the completion of a third building which brings the total square-footage under roof there to +400,000 sq.-ft.