“If you build it, they will come” is the famous line
from the movie Field of Dreams. That is a risky slogan
to live by. But, it is in fact the business model for
The Hollingsworth Companies Industrial Building
Program. In the last few decades, it has gotten
increasingly more difficult to get buildings built. Not
that steel or concrete have changed in any significant
way over that time, but the regulatory environment we
live in has changed the time to get a permit change
from a couple of weeks into several months. In the
last few years, supply chain issues have made it even
more difficult and uncertain to locate materials and
get them delivered to the project in a timely manner.
Construction is not for the faint of heart these days.
That is why, more than ever before, companies are
choosing existing buildings to meet their growth
needs. Not many companies can afford to wait over a
year or two to start up a new business unit or expand
their operation.
That is where The Hollingsworth Companies comes
in. We are building speculative buildings currently in
Alabama, North Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia.
As we near completion on these buildings, multiple
users are lining up to lease the facilities. In spite
of the fact that lease rates have risen an average
of 14% in the last two years, high demand, low
inventory, even higher replacement costs combine to
create an urgency in the market that continue to drive
development and market absorption.
However, this is not a business that is easy or quick
to enter. We acquired hundreds of acres of industrial
land, implemented the proper zoning and protective
covenants, extended infrastructure suitable for
industrial users, and built one speculative building
after another. We are getting ready to celebrate
our 25-year anniversary of our partnerships with
Prince George County Virginia and Mocksville,
North Carolina. In those two communities, we have
developed 28 projects totaling over 4,000,000 square
feet. We are now seeking the locations for our next
generation of privately owned industrial parks,
because we are building on the last available lots in
our first-generation parks.
There are many unprecedented and unexpected
turns and twists in the current economic and
political climates, but we still press through to bring
valuable assets to growing businesses across the
Southeastern United States, a field of dreams for
industrial.
