Davie Industrial Center – Phase One Coming May 2019

“You can’t sell cornfields anymore,” says Terry Bralley, president of the Davie County Economic Development Commission. “There’s too much red tape, hoopla, and time involved. Companies today are looking for a building shell that can be customized and up and running in 90-120 days.”

Fortunately, Davie County is in the enviable position of having a high-quality building inventory in the right location — just off of I-40, within 30 miles of four additional interstates, and centrally located between the Triad and Charlotte Metros.

And the new Davie Industrial Center located at Interstate Drive and Gildan Drive in Mocksville will soon add to that inventory. The first of its three industrial spaces, a 324,000 SF precast concrete industrial building, is currently under construction and will be available as early as May.  When completed, the Center will offer 920,678 SF of manufacturing/warehouse space.

“This is an advantage that every small community and every economic developer would love to have,” said Bralley.

Davie Industrial Center – Building for today and for the future

Private Investors Bringing New Jobs to Davie County
While some communities have taken public funds to compete with other developers, Davie County has taken the opposite approach of supporting private sector efforts and partnering with private developers rather than competing with them. For the past 22 years, the SouthPoint Industrial Park, located just north of Interstate 40 on US Highway 601, has been a shining example of this approach. Founded in 1998 by the Hollingsworth Companies, SouthPoint has brought thousands of jobs and millions of dollars of investment to Davie County.

The Park consists of 10 buildings from 72,480 to 253,180 SF and has two additional buildings planned for 2019.

Bralley believes that Davie Industrial Center’s larger industrial spaces will attract a different manufacturing clientele enhancing the County’s ability to continue to expand and grow its industrial base.

“Bigger buildings widen our potential to attract larger clients,” he said. “Larger buildings also have less competition in state-wide project searches which will increase our odds of securing a deal.”  

Building Phase 1 – Construction Underway Now – Available Spring 2019

Economic Development is a Team Sport – Building a Project Team
Davie Industrial Center is the vision of Bill Junker, owner of Trailers of the East Coast. He had often heard Bralley talk about running out of available inventory of industrial buildings and he knew that he had the perfect piece of property with a great location off of  I-40 that already had most of the necessary utilities, a road, and a stoplight. He simply needed help developing it, so he turned to Bralley for advice.

“I told Terry that if I could find some people that I could trust, that knew how to build buildings, who knew how to market them, and knew how to go through the deal, I would love to be a part of that because it’s something I’ve never done,” said Junker. “I’m sort of an entrepreneur, I love to take on new challenges.”

Together they went to Greensboro to talk with developers experienced in creating and marketing large industrial projects. Their first meeting was with John Reece of Commercial Realty Advisors who offers a wealth of commercial real estate development experience in the Winston-Salem, Greensboro, and Charlotte markets. He connected them with Buddy Seymour, the president-manager of Windsor Commercial which specializes in industrial development and construction. At the time, Windsor was working on the McConnell Center, a 145-acre mixed-use business park in East Greensboro at the split of I-85 and I-40.

Both Junker and Bralley liked what they saw at the McConnell Center. “We were really excited about what they could do in building such quality buildings and at a marketable price,” Junker said.

Seymour took a look at Junker’s site and agreed that it was the perfect place for the type of industrial complex he had in mind and a partnership was born. Reece joined the team as the marketing partner. Near the end of the project, a friend of Reece’s, Louis DeJoy, president of  LDJ Global Strategies, LLC, a strategic real estate investment and consulting company based in Greensboro, joined the group as an investor and provided the remaining needed capital.

“It has impressed me that they were all willing to get involved,” Junker said. “I saw the value, but I’m a rookie and this is all new to me. I continue to grow in confidence in my partners and what we are accomplishing. We are already looking at other opportunities in Davie County.”

Its all about Relationships
Bralley agreed, saying, “A speculative project of this magnitude involves a tremendous amount of risk but we have a great community here and the ability to assist with getting state and federal grants to help put deals together. They see that as an asset. Securing partners of this caliber says a lot about this project and this community’s reputation for knowing how to win big deals.He’s (Junker)  put together a winning combination of talent, capital, know-how, and marketing with the right location and the right infrastructure.”

“The ability to attract outside investors that believe in your economy and want to participate is how you develop a community. You bring outside dollars in,” he added.

Junker gave much of the credit for Davie County’s success to Bralley, calling him a “visionary who is always looking at what is coming over the horizon.” “Terry had the vision 30 some years ago that this corridor between Hwy 601 and Hwy 64 would be the lifeline future of Mocksville. What he and the Economic Development Commission are doing every day of the week is the lifeline of the citizens of Davie County to bring better-paying jobs to our county so that our children and grandchildren can come back here to live and have a better way of life. This is our future”

Embarrassed by the praise, Bralley smiled and said, “It’s all about relationships, developing relationships, and making connections. Those relationships can be worth millions”

Mocksville Mayor Will Marklin welcomes FinishWorks to Mocksville

“Everything you touch has a coating,” said Myron Miller, vice-president, and general manager of FinishWorks, holding up a Calloway golf ball and pointing to a Monroe shock, a Heritage guitar, and a display of wood-stained cabinet door samples during a tour of the company’s blending/distribution facility in Mocksville.

A leading manufacturer of wood, metal, and specialty industrial coatings, FinishWorks opened its doors in Mocksville two years ago in the old Crown Wood building at 125 John Crotts Road. Since then, the company has developed $3 million a year in new business while shifting established customers over from its facility in Hickory. Local customers include Ashley Furniture, Funder America, and Beaufurn. Its paints and stains can be found on furniture by companies like Thomasville, Bassett, Henredon, and Drexel Heritage.

Last week the company celebrated its success with a ribbon-cutting ceremony and customer appreciation event complete with hamburgers, bratwurst, and homemade ice cream.

During the ceremony, hosted by the Davie County Chamber of Commerce, Mocksville Mayor Will Marklin welcomed the company to Mocksville.

“We are really excited to be here in Davie County, you guys have been great,” replied Shane Withers, director of sales for FinishWorks. “We look forward to lots of years of growth here in Mocksville.”

FinishWorks General Manager Myron Miller at FinishWorks in Mocksville

FinishWorks is a subsidiary of RPM International, Inc., a global leader in specialty coatings that serves both the industrial and consumer markets. The company is comprised of eight regional blending/distribution facilities and two manufacturing plants. It’s known for providing color consistency as well as for developing leading-edge technology and trendsetting color design. One of the biggest breakthroughs in coatings in the last 50 years is the company’s isocyanate-free urethane coating.

“A” Players
According to Miller, FinishWorks was drawn to Mocksville because of its perfect location. It’s close to High Point and Charlotte and has a wealth of furniture and metal manufacturing companies within a 100-mile radius. In fact, a site survey revealed 1,066 companies radiating away from Mocksville like the spokes in a wheel.

Additionally, the area’s rich furniture heritage has provided a pool of highly-talented chemists for the facility’s custom blending operation.

“I like to hire “A” players, and they are definitely in this region,” Miller said. “These veterans are professionals and they are a dying breed.”

The company employees five full-time people in Mocksville in addition to sales staff.

FinishWorks – A Win-Win for Everyone
FinishWorks is like a paint store on steroids, a hybrid of both a paint store and manufacturer. The chemists in its color lab can match and custom blend paint and stain amounts ranging from one-gallon cans to 500-gallon batches.

“We are pretty nimble and can customize quickly,” said Miller. “If you brought in your grandmother’s antique desk drawer and wanted to match the color, we could do that right here in our color lab. Each of our locations has its own color lab where colors are developed every day. We probably develop between 200 to 250 colors company-wide every week.”

Although the company’s primary focus is coatings, it also sells related supplies. According to Miller, FinishWorks is the largest distributor of Kremlin spray equipment in North American. “Anyone who is going to buy our coating is also going to have to apply it.” The Mocksville facility also includes a showroom that sells paint and stain-related sundries to the public.

The facility serves as a distribution point for customers in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Virginia, Florida, and Alabama.

Miller envisions that the entire cavernous warehouse will be filled floor-to-ceiling with product within the next five years and serve as a larger distribution point. “We don’t have the building full yet, but it’s been a great location for us,” he said with a smile.

“FinishWorks in Mocksville is a terrific example of the local supply chain economy in which a cluster of innovative small businesses moves into an area with large manufacturing operations and becomes part of a network of local suppliers, creating even more new jobs in the area,” said Terry Bralley, president of the Davie County Economic Development Commission. “This network of local suppliers, in turn, enables our local manufacturers to be nimble and responsive to market opportunities. It’s a win-win for everyone.“

To celebrate Manufacturing Day 2018, several local businesses and Davie County manufacturers provided a unique opportunity for all eighth-grade students in Davie County.

On October 5th, students from Ellis, North Davie, and South Davie Middle Schools each toured two different locations including DEX Heavy Duty Parts, Gildan,  Ingersoll Rand, Pro Refrigeration, DCCC – Davie Campus, and WFBH-Davie Medical Center – Bermuda Run. Other students from all three schools spent their tour-time experiencing many different facets of Ashley Furniture Industries, Inc.

This is the second year Davie County has participated in National Manufacturing Day through the collaborative efforts of the Davie County Chamber of Commerce, Davie County Schools, Davie County Economic Development, DCCC, and the Davie business community.

Approximately 500 students and staff were exposed to the many outstanding career opportunities that exist here in the county. Business leaders provided informative tours including examples of how their employees use math, science, technology, and communication skills. Students were intrigued with the emphasis on safety, size of the facilities, variety of jobs including the educational requirements for the job, and the machinery used in the day-to-day operation of the businesses. DCCC showcased its many career paths to students who toured healthcare-related hands-on learning stations as well as the mobile manufacturing lab, an ambulance, a fire truck, and a tractor trailer used for the truck driving program.

Hosted annually, Manufacturing Day is a national event executed at the local level and typically focuses on manufacturing careers. “We expanded the types of businesses students visited to better align the many opportunities available here in Davie. By adding our state-of-the-art medical facility in Bermuda Run and expansive career path offerings at DCCC, our event was truly a “career exploration day” for our students,” said Carolyn McManamy, director of Davie CONNECT, a new workforce development initiative of Davie County Economic Development to connect businesses to resources and kids to careers.

“Middle school students are the next generation workforce and these tours are designed to expose them to career opportunities, show how their current and future curriculum ties to real-world careers and ignite interest in their future,” McManamy said. “During the tours, businesses showcased the scope of jobs available at their facilities and discussed the requisite higher education or skills training needed.”

Students were fascinated by what they experienced and appreciated the efforts of their tour guides and the employees that they had the opportunity to observe.

“I thought it was interesting learning how the business works,” said Genesis Antunez, a student from South Davie.

“I liked seeing how the robots worked. It was really cool,” added South Davie student, Cadyn Tanis.

“Everyone worked so hard to give us the chance to see what their jobs are and to give us ideas of what we might want to do in the future,” said North Davie student, Anna Johnson.

Zach Cline, also from North Davie, agreed and said, “I appreciated seeing how hard everyone worked and realized how everything had a purpose.”

The teachers were equally impressed with the experience.

“From a teacher’s perspective, it was great to see and hear how technology, automation, and teamwork are being used and developed at Ashley Furniture,” said Jamey Holt, who teaches math/social studies at North Davie. “The students were able to see that the traits teachers stress will be vital to their role in the workplace.”

Kristin Pitts, a science/social studies teacher at South Davie, commented, “It was interesting to see just how reliant each person is on the other people in their team. Without teamwork, production and higher wages would not be possible.”

“As a school district, it is our responsibility to make students aware of all educational and employment opportunities, and this collaborative effort is an excellent means to familiarize our students with the diverse careers available in Davie County,” said Anthony Davis, director of CTE and Federal Programs for Davie County High School.  “MFG Day was also a wonderful learning experience for our middle school teachers who saw first-hand the practical application of the skills they are teaching in the classroom.”

Business and industry participants appreciated the chance to showcase their facilities as well as the career opportunities they have to offer to this future workforce.

“Ingersoll Rand participated in Manufacturing Day because we want to inspire the next generation of manufacturers,” said Ashley Kern, human resources generalist.

Matt Britt, marketing manager, Davie & Lexington Medical Centers, said, “Wake Forest Baptist Health Davie Medical Center passionately supports workforce development in any way we can. The youth in our county and the surrounding areas will be our health care workers of tomorrow, and we are proud to be able to invite them to our facility and show them some of what we do. We hope it has a positive impact on their future goals and endeavors.”

“We enjoy opening our doors every year to showcase our manufacturing facility to our area students,” said Clark Bunting, senior HR manager, Ashley Furniture Industries, Inc.  “National Manufacturing Day is a great opportunity for Ashley Furniture to inspire and educate the future workforce about manufacturing careers and their benefits to our country.”

McManamy has been pleased with the great feedback she has received from businesses as well as the students and teachers. She and Davis appreciate everyone who helped make MFG Day 2018 a success. “This is the first in a series of programs that will directly connect our students to our businesses. The next steps will involve developing a formal program where students of various ages are exposed to a broad variety of career paths and educational opportunities. Aligning business needs with curriculum will ensure Davie County has a ready and able workforce to meet the challenges of businesses today and in the future.”

The need for additional sewer capacity in eastern Davie County has created roadblocks to commercial and residential growth for many years, but this limitation is coming to an end, thanks to the persistence of county leadership and a $2 million Economic Development Administration grant from the U.S. Department of Commerce.

In the works for more than two years, the grant provides partial funding for an overhaul and expansion of the wastewater system increasing capacity from 750,000 gallons per day to 2,000,000 gallons per day with a contractual agreement with the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County – City/County Utility Commission (CCUC) for 5,000,000 gallons per day. This will enhance the county’s ability to work with Wake Forest Baptist Health Davie Medical Center and others to grow the economy and spark future development.

The project is also expected to create at least 187 jobs, and spur $23 million in private investment.

“The purpose of this project is to expand the capacity of our wastewater treatment system in a way that protects the environment, and provides the capacity for responsible growth,” said County Manager, John Eller. “This additional infrastructure capacity will support sustainable long-term growth in the county for both residential and commercial development.”

“We are already a leader in the Piedmont Region, and in North Carolina, as it relates to job growth,” Eller said. “This project will allow us to further our strategic plan goals and to be intentional as we look to the future.”

Eller added that he appreciated the many hours of work that was put into the planning and execution by multiple partners, which ultimately led to the successful grant request.

According to the grant request, the proposed project was necessitated by several factors related to the North Eastern Davie Sewer Area (NEDSA). The eastern Davie wastewater collection system currently discharges into the Tanglewood Pump Station which is owned and operated by the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County – City/County Utility Commission (CCUC).  The needs of the NEDSA are increasing as the area is poised for growth and CCUC has only approved a short-term agreement for additional capacity at which point a significant fee will be charged to Davie County for CCUC upgrade expenses. The waste flow projections for the NEDSA are projected to increase by about 9% from residential, commercial and industrial growth from 2019 to 2040. This projected growth in demand cannot be appropriately accommodated with the current system.

An agreement has been reached with CCUC whereby if Davie County constructs a pipeline to the Muddy Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant, CCUC will no longer charge the county twice the rate paid by those inside the area for waste conveyance.

Furthermore, the Town of Bermuda Run currently owns and operates an aged package treatment facility that discharges into the Yadkin River.  The state is currently developing new effluent limits governing nutrient discharge for facilities upstream of High Rock Lake that will require the plant to be expanded and its processes rebuilt. The cost for the Town of Bermuda Run to either pump to CCUC or upgrade its plant was estimated to be approximately 3 times more expensive than for it to participate in the NEDSA project; therefore, the efforts can be combined, and a project has been developed to address the needs of both Davie County and the Town of Bermuda Run.

According to Davie County Utilities Director, Johnny Lambert, the estimated cost of the project is $17,625,200 and includes the following specific improvements:

• Installation of 4,700 linear feet of 8-inch force main beginning at the Yadkin River Pump Station which will travel within the right-of-way of U.S. 158 and connect to the Smith Creek force main that will be repurposed as the new Yadkin River force main.
• Pump replacement at the Yadkin River Pump Station to fit the new force main system requirements.
• Demolition of the Smith Creek Pump Station.
• Installation of 3,400 linear feet of 18-inch gravity interceptor along Smith Creek to the new Bermuda Run West Pump Station.
• Construction of the new Bermuda Run West Pump station at the end of Talwood Drive.
• Installation of 6,800 linear feet of 16-inch force main from the Bermuda Run West Pump Station to the new East Davie Transfer Pump Station.
• Construction of the new East Davie Pump Station.
• Installation of 31,000 linear feet of 20-inch force main to convey wastewater to the (Forsyth County) Muddy Creek Treatment Plant.

The county has been approved for a 20-year state revolving fund loan with an interest rate of 1.5 percent to fund the balance of the project. The expected cost saving of $4.9 million in conveyance fees over the loan period will be applied to paying off the loan.

Lambert said the new sewer collection system is slated to begin construction in February 2019 and should be completed in December 2020. The county has begun advertising the project and will begin accepting bids on October 17th, 2018.

Davie County Commissioner Chairman, Terry Renegar, noted, “The NEDSA project is a proactive step for anticipated residential and commercial growth in Davie County in the coming years. I appreciate all that our county staff, elected officials, economic development partners, the Piedmont Triad Regional Council, State of North Carolina, Federal Economic Development Administration, and other key stakeholders have done to make this vision a reality.”

Saber Health is investing in a new 59,000 square foot, 108-bed state-of-the-art skilled-nursing facility on Madison Road in Mocksville. Slated to open in early 2019, the new Davie Health & Rehabilitation Center will replace Autumn Care of Mocksville, which the company purchased in March of 2016.

The old 33,000 square foot facility on Howard Street was built in several phases beginning in the 1950’s and continuing through the early 1990’s. It currently staffs 79 beds and offers skilled nursing care, rehabilitation services, and respite care.

The new location will provide an expanded rehabilitation center, more private rooms with private bathrooms, and an indoor courtyard where residents can visit together or with their guests. The new facility will also allow the company to offer outpatient therapy which will be accessed through a separate entrance.

Darin Asbill, the administrator, says this new modern facility will allow the company to better meet the current and future needs of the community and Autumn Care’s patients and employees.

“We look forward to the opening of our new facility and continuing to provide high quality skilled nursing services to the residents of Davie and the surrounding counties.”

Autumn Care of Mocksville currently employs 97 full-time, part-time, and PRN employees, but Asbill anticipates that number will increase as the facility reaches full capacity.

Terry Bralley, president of the Davie County Economic Development Commission, is thrilled with the expansion and considers it a testament to the ease of doing business in Davie County and to its prime location near I-40.

“One of Davie County’s greatest assets is its existing industries and businesses,” said Bralley. “It is always so rewarding to see them reinvesting here because when they succeed our community succeeds. Please join me in thanking Saber Healthcare for its continuing commitment to our community.“

Saber Healthcare Group was founded in 2001 with two skilled nursing facilities near Cleveland, Ohio and has grown to more than 100 nursing homes and assisted living facilities in Delaware, Florida, Indiana, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Virginia.

You can follow along and get updates on progress by visiting Saber Healthcare Group on Facebook at www.facebook.com/SaberHealthCare.