Groundbreaking Ceremony Burke Business Park Water Tank
| From left to right: Alan Wood (President & CEO Burke Dev. Inc.), Jeremy Binkley (Phoenix Tank, LLC), Alderman Rick Cline (Town of Drexel), Johnnie Carswell (Chairman, Burke County Board of Commisioners), Mayor Ronnie Thompson (City of Morganton), Town Manager Kenneth Geathers (Town of Rutherford College), Councilman Roy Sweezy (Town of Valdese) |
Local Partners Celebrate Groundbreaking
for 500,000 Gallon Tank
For Immediate Release
Burke County, NC, (September 1, 2020) Local partners for the Burke Business Park met at the park location off Kathy Road to celebrate the groundbreaking for a 500,000-gallon water tank. The partners in the business park project (Burke County, City of Morganton, Town of Valdese, Town of Drexel and Town of Rutherford College) were all on site for the celebration.
“The building of the water tank at the business park is a final piece of infrastructure needed at the site,” said Johnnie Carswell, Chair of the Burke County Commissioners. “With this we can move forward in our efforts to locate new or expanding businesses at the site.”
The water tank, which is needed for fire suppression by companies locating in the park, is being funded by a grant provided through the North Carolina’s Infrastructure Development Fund (IDF) and 25% matching funds provided by the business park partners. The total project costs are estimated to be approximately $2.3 million, including contingencies. Morganton Mayor Ronnie Thomas was pleased to see the project moving forward saying, “Burke Business Park is now ready to go. We appreciate all the partners that have participated in the project and we are excited about the potential businesses that will be locating here.”
Burke Business Park is an 83-acre site that is fully graded and when build-out is completed it will have the capacity to accommodate nearly one-million square feet of industrial/distribution space. Alan Wood, President and CEO of Burke Development Inc., is quoted as saying: “With the location immediately adjacent to Interstate 40, and easy access to markets all across the Eastern United States, this location should rank high on the list of available locations not only in North Carolina, but throughout the Southeast.”
The tank will be built by Phoenix Fabricators and Erectors, LLC, with a pump station being completed by Locke-Lane Construction, Inc. Design. Engineering work was completed by West Consultants, PLLC, with McAdams and Associates handling grant administration. Burke County will oversee the grant process and when completed the tank and property will be owned and operated by The City of Morganton.
About Burke Development, Inc.
Burke Development, Inc. (BDI) is a nonprofit organization supported by private and public funding that is charged with accelerating economic growth in Burke County. BDI works with industry leaders, site selection consultants, government agencies and other entities to facilitate expansion strategies for existing businesses and recruit target industries to Burke County. For more information about BDI visit www.BurkeDevInc.com.
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Contact:
Alan Wood
828.764.9372