Catawba County, the City of Claremont, EDC’s Committee of 100 and Matthews Construction were joined today by members of Innovate Catawba and community leaders to break ground on the Claremont Spec Building in the Claremont International Business Park. These partners have combined efforts to construct the first shell building for Innovate Catawba’s Building for Jobs effort. The Economic Development Corporation led the development of the program that will encourage partnership between government and local contractors and developers to construct the much needed buildings at a cost that will be attractive to clients. The Innovate Catawba Building for Jobs program allows local governments to partner with local companies to construct spec buildings, not to compete against them.

The Claremont Spec Building will be a 51,200 square foot pre-cast concrete speculative building with 28 foot to 32 foot clear ceiling heights on 9.31 acres owned by BGA partners. Final build-out of the facility can be completed to a client’s specifications within 120 days and the building will be expandable to 128,000 square feet. The City of Claremont, Catawba County and the EDC’s Committee of 100 will pay the carrying costs on the shell building for up to three years and market the building both nationally and internationally to perspective clients.

Charlie Dixon, Chair, Building for Jobs for Innovate Catawba said, “If a community doesn’t have a suitable building or site with a suitable shell building, the client will not consider that community. This idea was at the forefront of discussions during the Innovate Catawba planning meetings and is at the core and purpose of Building for Jobs. This community desperately needs available sites for today’s manufacturers. Innovate Catawba and Building for Jobs have worked together with the County, Claremont and the EDC to encourage the construction of shell buildings. We are fortunate that we have a ready and willing partner like Matthews Construction to help make this happen.”

“Claremont is thrilled to be a partner in the first spec building under the Innovate Catawba Building for Jobs program,” said Claremont Mayor Shawn Brown. “The Claremont International Business Park is home to many outstanding companies that employ hundreds of hard working people. We are looking forward to adding another manufacturer to our family of industries.”

“This shell building program is another example of how the community has come together through Innovate Catawba, recognizing a need and partnering to meet that need,” said Kitty Barnes, Chair, Catawba County Board of Commissioners. “Having desirable buildings will drive clients to consider our community and give us the ability to sell the strength of our workforce, our pride in craftsmanship and our ability to innovate.”

Chair of Catawba County Economic Development Corporation Ellie Bradshaw said, “Most projects are building and site driven, meaning that only those communities with an existing suitable site are considered. Today’s manufacturers typically require property with a newer stand-alone building with at least 24 foot ceilings, room for significant expansion, and good access to an interstate, and preferably in an established industrial park. Right now we are losing out to communities that have good sites with shell buildings. We are excited that the Matthews construction folks are partnering with the County, Claremont and the EDC Committee of 100 to provide our County with a site and building that will make us competitive for new manufacturing opportunities.”

For more information, please visit the City of Claremont's website.