HANCOCK COUNTY — A developer that was already planning two large speculative buildings in the western part of the county now wants to add two more nearby.
Red Rock Investment Partners, LLC of Columbia, South Carolina, and Charlotte, North Carolina, is considering building a move-in-ready property spanning about 640,000 square feet and another about 489,000 square feet on 104 acres east of Buck Creek Road, west of County Road 700W and north of Brybelly’s distribution center, which is in the 7200 block of West County Road 200N. The area is in Buck Creek Township.
Ron Pritzke, an attorney with Greenfield-based Pritzke & Davis, LLP, representing Red Rock Investment Partners, said at a Hancock County Council meeting earlier this month that estimates for the development come in at an investment of $61 million, 565 jobs and an annual payroll of about $17.6 million.
Alexis Sowder, project manager with Indianapolis-based KSM Location Advisors, represents Red Rock Investment Partners as well.
“Their core competency is in the industrial sector within strategic markets, and Hancock County is certainly one of those,” she said at the council meeting.
The county council voted 6-0 in favor of a 10-year real estate tax abatement for the buildings. The abatement would decrease by 10 percentage points each year. A public hearing and final vote on the abatement is scheduled for 9 a.m. Wednesday, Sept. 9. County council meetings are on the free video-conferencing platform Zoom due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Links to meetings are posted at hancockcoingov.org/hancock-county-council-meeting-agenda.
The two buildings would be across Buck Creek Road from two others Red Rock Investment Partners has planned. One will be 442,624 square feet, and the other will be 636,272 square feet with the ability to expand an additional 401,586 square feet. That investment is estimated at $79.3 million. The county council approved real estate tax abatements for the projects in May.
John Barker Jr., president and chief development officer of Red Rock Investment Partners, thanked the council for its “aggressive approach” to helping developers with tax abatements.
“Certainly the tenants and occupiers benefit from it immensely, and not all communities are doing it around the country,” he said.
Pritzke said Red Rock Investment Partners’ clients include Home Depot, Michelin Tires, Volvo, Duracell and Adidas.
Red Rock Investment Partners’ latest projects would bring the total of large, speculative buildings proposed for western Hancock County to 29 over about the past year and a half.
And economic development interest continues to pour in, said Randy Sorrell, executive director of the Hancock Economic Development Council.
“It’s like someone turned the spigot on July 1,” he said of developers making requests for information.
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Proposed spec buildings
- 640,000 square feet and 489,000 square feet
- East of Buck Creek Road, west of County Road 700W, north of Brybelly
- $61 million
- 565 jobs
- $17.6 million annual payroll
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