Andrews Road development rezoning approved

Staff photo by Raul R. Rubiera

An artist’s rendering of Patriot Park, which originally was called River Landing Center, depicts the 100-acre site on Andrews Road that will be developed for 128 house lots, 192 apartments and four office buildings.

Cumberland County commissioners cleared the way Monday night for Patriot Park, a mixed-use development that will be the new headquarters for a local defense contractor.
Over neighborhood objections, the commissioners voted unanimously to rezone a nearly 100-acre site on Andrews Road for 128 house lots, 192 apartments and four office buildings.
The anchor of the 125,000-square-foot office condominium will be The Logistics Co., a fast-growing provider of specialized personnel and services to the Department of Defense, other government agencies and private industry around the world.
County officials pointed out that developer John Koenig could have built as many as 492 residences on the site, 172 more than will go on the property near Pine Forest High School.
“The land is not going to stay vacant,” Commissioner Jimmy Keefe told unhappy neighbors.
“Development is inevitable,” added Commissioner Breeden Blackwell.
But a parade of speakers at the hearing said two-lane Andrews Road already is clogged with traffic and nearby subdivisions flood regularly after storms.
Some neighbors wondered why Logistics Co. couldn’t find space to grow in one of the vacant big-box stores on Ramsey Street, where the company is now located.
After the hearing, Logistics Chairman and Chief Executive Larry Walsh said that was his first choice.
“We tried, believe me,” Walsh said. “We gave up.”
Walsh’s 13-year-old Fayetteville-based company is projected to hit $100 million in annual sales sometime this year. It reported $13 million in revenue in 2004.
Last year, the company was named one of America’s 10 fastest-growing outfits in the logistics field by Inc. magazine, which covers the nation’s entrepreneurs.
Phyllis Owens, senior vice president for economic development at the Fayetteville-Cumberland County Chamber of Commerce, said the company’s expansion plans are a harbinger of the business activity coming to the county with base realignment.
“They are going to house themselves,” Owens said. “And then it depends on who comes knocking on their door.”
Owens said smaller partners that can work with Logistics Co. on defense projects could occupy the rest of the office space in Patriot Park.
“They have a lot of strong relationships and networking that they have done,” Owens said. “They may actually have somebody else already in mind. Or there may be people that we introduce to them who come to town looking for space.”
Koenig said the houses in the residential component of Patriot Park will sell for no more than $200,000 each.
Neighbors protested that the development would dump more traffic onto the already congested Andrews Road.
“Right now, yeah, it’s kind of a tough situation,” Owens said.
But Thomas J. Lloyd, county planning and inspections director, said the road is slated to be widened.
And Owens said the extension of Interstate 295 from Ramsey Street should relieve the heaviest traffic on Andrews Road someday. Patriot Park has frontage on the proposed right of way for I-295.
Owens said motorists heading to Fort Bragg will take I-295 to a future exit at the All American Expressway, rather than travel along Andrews Road.
Blackwell praised Koenig as a developer of quality projects in Eastover and Wilmington.
“Everything I’ve seen him build is well done,” Blackwell said.

Staff writer Francis X. Gilpin can be reached at gilpinf@fayobserver.com or 486-3587