Gastonia Attracts Foreign Investment to Tech Park

By Amalia Otet, Associate Editor

South Charlotte will become home to a new freestanding Walgreens drugstore, slated to open in January 2012.

The planned 12,500-square-foot building will be developed by Morgan Property Group LLC, a company focused on acquisition, management and brokerage of small- and medium-sized office buildings, shopping centers and medical projects. With headquarters in both Charlotte and Fort Lauderdale, Fla., MPG builds to suit clients like Publix, Walgreens, Blockbuster, McDonald’s, Wendys, KFC, Bank of America and Starbucks.

The site of the future pharmacy, located at the northeast corner of Pineville, was purchased by MPG from H. Allen Tate, Jr. for $2.1 million. Work has already begun with the demolition of the old office building standing on the 1.3-acre lot. Some minor infrastructure work will be also part of the project, such as the replacement of sidewalks and the installation of a planting strip along Pineville-Matthews and Johnston, according to South Charlotte Weekly.

Following the same growth pattern recorded throughout the rest of the region, Gastonia is attracting an increasing number of investors from all over the world. Italian company Repi hired D.H. Griffin of Greensboro to supervise the development of a $5.8 million manufacturing facility, scheduled for completion by 2012. The outfit would total 45,000 square feet and would be built of precast concrete. The endeavor is expected to generate around 27 jobs in Gastonia Technology Park during the next three years, according to the Charlotte Business Journal.

Repi is a major producer of liquid dyes and additives for the automotive, packaging, footwear, construction, furniture and elastomers industries. It was established in Charlotte in 2003 with commercial offices, labs and warehouses.

In other news, the Charlotte Observer reports that Home2 Suites by Hilton is scheduled to break ground in Charlotte next week, as the third location of the brand hotel in the North Carolina market, following Fayetteville and Jacksonville. Developed by C.N. Hotels Inc., the lodging facility is slated to open by next summer, in time for the 2012 Democratic National Convention.

The 89-room extended-stay hotel will be located at 6025 Tyvola Glen Circle and will feature an indoor saline pool, meeting room and a fitness room.