GREENSBORO, N.C. — IQE Inc., a global semiconductor manufacturer based in Wales, has announced plans to invest $305 million to expand its manufacturing facility in Greensboro to produce next-generation compound semiconductor material. The investment is subject to customer commitments and funding from the federal CHIPS Act. The expansion is expected to create 109 new jobs in North Carolina’s Piedmont Triad region, which sits between Charlotte and Raleigh-Durham along I-85. “IQE’s major reinvestment in Guilford County is a testament to the quality of our world-class workforce, the strength of our business climate and our leadership in clean energy and technology,” says North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper. Operating in Greensboro for more than a decade and with 72 employees, IQE manufactures “epi wafers” using molecular beam epitaxy for the defense and aerospace industries. The new investment would add a complementary epitaxy called metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) and would provide a new clean technology for semiconductor chip production to help serve the electric vehicle (EV) market. North Carolina is growing its EV manufacturing base. For example, VinFast, an EV manufacturer based in Vietnam, is currently building out a $4 billion factory in nearby Chatham County.
GASTON, S.C. — Red Rock Developments has delivered a 519,792-square-foot speculative industrial facility located at 201 Integrity Way in Gaston, a suburb of Columbia. The cross-dock warehouse is situated along I-26 in Calhoun County within the 760-acre Sandy Run Industrial Park, a portion of which also lies within Lexington County. Chuck Salley, Thomas Beard and John Peebles of Colliers are marketing the property to an industrial user for sale or lease on behalf of Red Rock. Colliers has also been retained for property management services. The design-build team includes Miller Valentine Construction, MCA Architecture, Alliance Consulting Engineers and S&ME. The facility, which is expandable to nearly 1.2 million square feet, is the only available industrial building in Central South Carolina with 40-foot clear heights, according to Red Rock.
HOUSTON — Clay Development will build a two-building, 495,360-square-foot speculative industrial project in northwest Houston. The buildings, which will span 425,360 and 70,000 square feet, represent Phase I of Northwest 99 Business Park, a 172-acre, 2.3 million-square-foot development at the intersection of Grand Parkway and Mueschke Road. The larger of the two buildings, Northwest 99 Distribution Center I, will feature a cross-dock configuration, 36-foot clear height ceilings, 110 dock-high doors, four drive-in ramps, 220 employee parking spots and the option for additional trailer parking. The building is designed to accommodate up to four different users. The smaller building, dubbed Northwest 99 Spec I, will be a single-tenant manufacturing building with 125-foot truck court depths, up to 45 employee parking spots and two acres for a future stabilized lay-down yard. JLL and CBRE have been tapped as leasing agents for the larger and smaller buildings, respectively, and their efforts will be aided by those of Clay Development’s Copeland Rhea. Construction is scheduled to begin by the end of the year and to be complete in the third quarter of 2025.
WILMER, TEXAS — JLL has arranged a loan of an undisclosed amount for the refinancing of a 334,000-square-foot industrial building in the southern Dallas suburb of Wilmer. Built in 2023, the rail-served facility at 901 Distribution Drive features 36-foot clear heights and 62 dock doors. Trey Morsbach, Jarrod McCabe, Ryan Pollack and Chad Lisbeth of JLL arranged the five-year, fixed-rate loan through PPM America. The borrower was not disclosed. The building was fully leased to two third-party logistics providers at the time of the loan closing.
RICHMOND, CALIF. — PCCP has provided an $85 million loan to an affiliate of WPT Capital Advisors for the acquisition of a three-building industrial park at 6000, 6015 and 6025 Giant Road in Richmond. Built in 2015 and 2016, the 517,894-square-foot asset is 57 percent leased to two tenants. The Class A logistics asset features 30- to 32-foot clear heights, LED lighting and ESFR sprinklers. The property is located within Pinole Point Business Park, a 100-acre master-planned industrial park offering 2.2 million square feet of Class A space.
RANCHO BERNARDO AND CARLSBAD, CALIF. — Equity Oak Ventures has received $12.2 million in portfolio financing for a four-building flex industrial, research-and-development (R&D) and office portfolio in San Diego County. Alex Witt, Chris Collins and Daniel Pinkus of JLL Debt Advisory’s team represented Equity Oak Ventures in securing a fixed-rate, three-year loan. The fully leased portfolio includes a 42,865-square-foot, three-building flex industrial and office campus in Rancho Bernardo and a 44,757-square-foot R&D and cGMP (Current Good Manufacturing Practice) facility within Carlsbad Research Center, repositioned post-acquisition with long-term leases. The Rancho Bernardo asset, located at 11225, 11235 and 11245 W. Bernardo Court, consists of three buildings totaling 42,865 square feet, including a single-tenant, 29,000-square-foot flex industrial building. Located at 1900 Aston Ave. in Carlsbad, the property occupies a corner lot and features dock-level doors, multiple roll-up doors, temperature-controlled industrial space and high-quality office improvements. The newest tenant has signed a long-term lease and is making an investment in a large-scale cGMP facility.
PLAINFIELD, ILL. — Trammell Crow Co. (TCC) has broken ground on a 788,000-square-foot speculative warehouse in Plainfield, about 40 miles southwest of downtown Chicago. The building marks the first speculative warehouse in Plainfield Business Center and is slated for completion in fall 2025. The facility will feature a clear height of 40 feet, 80 dock doors and 211 trailer stalls. The 52-acre site offers proximity to I-55 and I-80. Upon full build-out, Plainfield Business Center will total more than 8 million square feet. The project team includes Harris Architects, Krusinski Construction Co. and civil engineer Kimley-Horn and Associates. Matt Mulvihill and Phil DeBoer of CBRE represented TCC in acquiring the land and are marketing the property for lease.
JOLIET, ILL. — Saxum Real Estate, along with its partner Black Salmon, has begun development of a 294,840-square-foot cold storage project for Arcadia Cold in Joliet. Marc Duval, Ed Halaburt and Wells Waller of JLL represented the owner in securing joint venture equity. Bank OZK is providing debt financing. Clayco is the general contractor. The project will feature a clear height of 50 feet and convertible rooms. Completion is slated for the first quarter of 2026. Arcadia is the seventh-largest cold storage operator in the U.S., according to a release.
CARMEL, N.Y. — Diamond Point Development has broken ground on an 800-unit self-storage facility in Carmel, about 60 miles north of New York City in the Hudson Valley region. The multi-story facility will comprise 81,000 net rentable square feet of climate-controlled space. Diamond Point is developing the facility in partnership with Dallas-based Rosewood Property Co. Extra Space Storage will manage the property, which is expected to be complete in late 2025.
ALLENTOWN, PA. — Infinera (NASDAQ: INFN) has signed a nonbinding preliminary memorandum of terms to receive up to $93 million in funding under the CHIPS and Science Act, proceeds of which would be used to expand the California-based semiconductor manufacturer’s Lehigh Valley facility. Funding would also be allocated toward the expansion and modernization of the company’s Silicon Valley facility, and the projects could support the creation of as many as 1,700 manufacturing and construction jobs.