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The “460 Commerce Center,” a roughly 352,000-square-foot manufacturing and distribution facility under construction in Isle of Wight County’s Shirley T. Holland Intermodal Park, could be ready for its first tenant as early as July, according to Isle of Wight Economic Development Director Kristi Sutphin.

Sutphin gave an update on the project at the Economic Development Authority’s April 8 meeting. The county had last year anticipated substantial completion by this August.

The project, named for its proximity to the four-lane Route 460 that passes through Isle of Wight, is being built on a roughly 43-acre EDA-owned parcel adjacent to the existing Safco Products and Keurig Dr. Pepper manufacturing plant. The latter is expected to cease operations by the end of April, Sutphin said.

Sutphin said Economic Development’s application for a 2,684-square-foot speculative office space that will be marketed to potential tenants is making its way through the county’s review and permitting process.

A groundbreaking ceremony took place in October, though construction and utility relocation has been ongoing since last April. The roof is now substantially completed, Sutphin said, and water and sewer connections have been tied in and tested.

Isle of Wight received five bids last year for the extension of William A. Gwaltney Way to connect to the 460 Commerce Center site and awarded the contract to Phillips Construction for $1.7 million.

In 2023, Virginia’s Commonwealth Transportation Board approved an $850,000 grant to partially fund the roadway extension. The remainder of the cost, County Administrator Randy Keaton said last year, is being funded with a combination of $375,000 from the EDA for a loan repayment, $300,000 from a sale of property in the intermodal park and prior-year capital improvement plan funds.

Construction of the building itself is being funded by W.M. Jordan, the developer that bought the land from the EDA. Leasing will be handled by Colliers International, a Toronto-based investment management company, according to a 2024 news release by the company.

The Economic Development Department has referred to the project as a “speculative Class A industrial development,” meaning no tenant has committed yet. Class A, in real estate lingo, refers to the highest-quality construction in the most desirable locations.

The site plan calls for 80 truck-loading dock doors, 40 on each side of the building, plus 58 employee parking spaces and 75 spaces for trailer parking. The plan calls for a potential future addition of 90 spaces – 30 for employees and 60 for trailers.

The near-completion of the 460 Commerce Center comes amid paused efforts by the county to market the Keurig plant, which was originally to close at the end of last year, and county supervisors’ recent 3-2 approval of the Tidewater Logistics Center, a multi-warehouse complex proposed for 154 acres on the outskirts of Windsor fronting the north side of Route 460. The 460 Commerce Center would be accessed via the south side.

The Meridian Group, which will develop the Tidewater Logistics Center, had originally proposed five warehouses totaling 1.2 million square feet. When county supervisors rejected that plan last year, Meridian returned with a revised concept that calls for four warehouses totaling 726,000 square feet and a 14.9-acre park in place of what would have been the fifth warehouse.

The EDA remains under contract with Meridian to sell an EDA-owned 83-acre parcel for $2.5 million. The 154 acres include two non-EDA parcels owned by Hollowell Holdings LLC. Sutphin said there is no closing date for the sale yet, and that Meridian has extended to April 30 the window for any appeals of the supervisors’ March rezoning approval.