To attract new industries to Pender County and the NC 421 corridor—industries capable of creating jobs to sustain and diversify the community’s tax base—in 2011 the County joined forces with Wilmington Business Development to create Pender Commerce Park. Today, 450-acre regional industrial park, owned by Pender County, has become one of the biggest industrial parks in North Carolina, is a best-in-class industrial asset to the surrounding area, and is home to several large industries. According to the Wilmington Business Journal, Commerce Park “is slated to become home to more than 600 jobs, $100 million in capital investment and 600,000 square feet of industrial space.”
The park is served by the 0.5-mgd “Melinda K. Knoerzer Adaptive Ecosystem Wastewater Treatment Facility.” This award-winning plant employs a unique treatment approach unlike any other conventional municipal treatment plant in the southeastern U.S.
McKim & Creed furnished master planning, civil/site engineering, environmental engineering and surveying services for both the park and the wastewater treatment facility.