A manufacturer of bearings and power transmission products has opened its large industrial facility on Westinghouse Boulevard.
Last week, Solve Industrial Motion Group cut the ribbon on its new operations at 3945 Westinghouse Blvd. The company moved into an approximately 283,000-square-foot industrial building there that was developed for the manufacturer by Charlotte-based Beacon Partners.
Beacon invested $34 million in the development of the facility for Solve, which will add 60 jobs for its Charlotte regional distribution center. The project was formally announced last year.
Mark Chandler, Solve's chief operating officer, said the company is operating at between 10% and 20% capacity at the new facility. The company is still ramping up as it continues to hire for the new positions at that location. Solve is retaining 51 jobs as part of the project, as well, and is relocating other operations from New York into the facility.
Solve's corporate headquarters is at an office space in Ayrsley.
Solve has made five acquisitions since 2021, CEO Lisa Mitchell said, accelerating the need for expansion.
The new facility provides significantly more space than Solve's previous home at 1817 Westinghouse Blvd., where the company had been since the 1990s. Solve said last year it chose the new Westinghouse Boulevard location over other sites considered in North Carolina and South Carolina.
Pete Kidwell, industrial partner at Beacon Partners, said the developer had eyed the Westinghouse Boulevard site for years. An entity affiliated with Beacon acquired over 20 acres there last year for just over $4 million, according to Mecklenburg County real estate records. Kidwell said Beacon began discussing a deal with Solve in March 2022 before reaching an agreement and beginning construction in September 2022. The building was delivered this October.
"These build-to-suit opportunities — and the ability to create relationships and partnerships — are our favorite types of projects," Kidwell said.
Beacon's project team for the Solve facility included Myers & Chapman as the general contractor. Merriman Schmitt Architects was the architect for the project. Redline Design and Orsborn Engineering Group were also part of the team. Ian Bertolina of Bertolina CRESI represented Solve in the build-to-suit deal with Beacon.
The Solve project is part of Beacon's robust industrial portfolio in the Charlotte market.
Beacon came in at No. 1 on the Charlotte Business Journal's most recent list ranking the market's largest commercial real estate developers based on activity in the last five years. CBJ data shows that industrial projects accounted for 85% of Beacon's delivered square footage in the market in that time period. Its industrial portfolio here is headlined by Carolina Logistics Park, its massive park underway in Pineville.