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Isle of Wight County expects to break ground this summer on the “460 Commerce Center” – a roughly 352,000-square-foot manufacturing and distribution facility in the Shirley T. Holland Intermodal Park.

The 460 Commerce Center, named for its proximity to the four-lane Route 460 that passes through Isle of Wight, is to be located on a roughly 43-acre Economic Development Authority-owned parcel adjacent to the existing Safco Products and Keurig Dr. Pepper distribution centers.

Isle of Wight County’s Economic Development Department is referring to the project as a “speculative Class A industrial development,” as there’s no definite tenant yet. “Class A,” in real estate, refers to the highest quality construction in the most desirable locations.

“The target market is either light manufacturing or large-scale logistics and supply chain firms and/or distribution for familiar retail firms, any of which would want to take advantage of our great proximity to the Port of Virginia and access to major transportation routes,” said Isle of Wight Economic Development Director Chris Morello.

Isle of Wight has been working with an unnamed developer for roughly a year to bring the proposed project to fruition. The EDA is “under contract to the builder” and has “not yet closed on the transaction, so maintaining confidentiality at this stage is paramount,” Morello said.

He can’t say yet how much it will cost to build. The developer will construct the building without using county money, Morello assured. The developer has partnered with Colliers International to market the property with the Economic Development Department’s collaboration.

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 site could be expanded in the future to include an additional 29 employee spaces and an additional 60 trailer spaces.

The Economic Development Department anticipates the site being ready for occupancy by the third or fourth quarter of 2024.

This is the second economic development proposal to emerge for the Shirley T. Holland park this year. In January, the EDA announced an unnamed potential purchaser was interested in building a 135,000-square-foot distribution center along Route 258 in an undeveloped third phase of the park. That project was code-named “Project Air Station.”