Massive 1M-square-foot industrial park in North Carolina inks tenants for first phase

The first phase of a more than 1 million-square-foot industrial park in north Durham is more than 50 percent leased ahead of delivery.

Houston-based Welcome Group, the developers behind Welcome Venture Park north of Braggtown, has signed new tenants for the four buildings in the first phase of the project. The leases total 212,400 square feet and represent four companies, one of which took more than 100,000 square feet.

Cavalier Logistics, a global 3PL company owned by Mitsubishi Logistics and based in Dulles, Virginia, will be in 128,000 square feet with the potential to expand. CEO Robbie Neilson said this is the company’s first location in North Carolina and it plans to hire for positions at the warehouse.

“This came across our radar two years ago ... we were looking to expand into that [biopharma] area and we were also looking for a business park where we could potentially scale up. So the fact that we were getting in at the ground level at Venture Park was appealing as we feel we might need more space than we've already letted,” Nielson said.

The company anticipates moving into the space in the next month and will potentially double its space in the next few years.

The Food Bank of Eastern and Central North Carolina leased 64,000 square feet. Whether this will be a relocation from its Capital Boulevard location or expansion is unknown as the organization did not return a request for comment.

The other two companies are Pep Move and Great Day Improvements, which together are filling 20,400 square feet. Neither company responded to requests for comment.

Pep Move is an office equipment moving company based in Colorado. It has an office in Morrisville and has been in the area for 13 years.

Ohio-based Great Day Improvements, a home improvement company, is new to North Carolina. It has locations in 12 markets in the Northeast and the Midwest. Its website shows job postings for positions in Durham.

Welcome Group expects to deliver all of phase one by the end of the first quarter, a bit behind its original schedule of the third quarter of 2024. In June 2024, the first phase was 40 percent preleased.  

The second phase will have 194,100 square feet of space in two buildings. Mass grading for phases two and three are complete while site work for phase two will begin in mid-March. Randy Warren of RW2 Development company said the second phase will deliver by the first quarter of 2026. Construction on phase three will start in the first quarter of 2026 with delivery in the fourth quarter that year.

In all, Welcome Venture Park will have 1.3 million square feet of flex and industrial space in 10 buildings. It is at 1539 Hamlin Road east of Old Oxford Road.

Large industrial parks underway or recently completed across the Triangle include the 441,000 square foot Alexander Commerce Park in Raleigh, Park Overlook in Cary, which will have 374,360 square feet, and Thompson Business Park in Knightdale with almost 500,000 square feet.

RW2 Development Company is leading Welcome Venture Park’s development and management. Larry Lakins, Hunter Willard, Andrew Young and Shields Bennett from the Colliers Raleigh Industrial Services Team are handling leasing for the park.