Castlegate Construction Co. has hit a home run with its first industrial project, a "spec" building in Gastonia quickly leased by a local manufacturer.

Castlegate, Gaston County's largest homebuilder, saw the potential for developing a speculative shell building and contacted John Barker Realty for guidance. The Barkers have been instrumental in locating many industries in Gaston County and are knowledgeable about all phases of industrial development.

Castlegate acquired a parcel of about 8 acres on Northwest Boulevard across from Curtiss-Wright. They built a $1 million, 30,000-sq.-ft. metal warehouse that was soon leased, thanks to the Barkers, by CWW Gerko, a local manufacturer of acoustic materials for automotive and white goods (major appliances).

"We're very pleased with the success of this project and are getting ready to do 17,500 square feet of flexible space for office or warehouse, for one to four tenants, on the site" said Wayne Taggart, vice president of Castlegate. "After that we're hoping to do a little larger spec building, possibly in the 40,000-sq.-ft. range."

Taggart said the Barkers were "very helpful and provided us a lot of insight based on their in-depth experience."

Reinhard Hecht, president of CWW Gerko's US headquarters in Gastonia, said the facility will be used to store materials and will employ only one or two people, since most of the company's personnel work at their nearby manufacturing facility.