Officials hear update on Hendrick site readiness; infrastructure, water and power cited as constraints

Mecklenburg County and the Hendrick project team gave Matthews officials an update on Aug. 11 about site-readiness work at a multi-hundred-acre employment site, saying the parcel is actively marketed to large manufacturers and data users but that utility capacity and environmental approvals will govern what can be built and when.

The report described multiple large inquiries already on the table and flagged three primary infrastructure constraints—power, sewer/water and wetlands permitting—that will shape whether prospective users can move forward in the next three to five years, or whether larger lead times for upgrades push projects farther out.

Mecklenburg County economic development director Roger Johnson briefed the commission and said the property owners have been selective about which companies to pursue. “So I’m here tonight to say you’re in good hands with this particular property owners,” Johnson said, adding that inquiries have come from pharmaceutical contract manufacturing, automotive research and development, data centers and other advanced manufacturers.

The team that presented additional technical detail included Greg Hartley of Acro Development Services, the site engineer, and a Hendrick representative identified in the meeting as “Mr. Koji.” Hartley said roughly 20 acres tied to the project lie across the county line inside the town of Stallings and that those acres are part of the first master-planning and utility assessments under way. “There’s approximately 20 acres that’s across the county line in the town of Stallings,” Hartley said.

On power, presenters described an on-site substation the team believes can supply a meaningful initial amount of capacity but not every large, single user all at once. Johnson and the team told commissioners the nearby substation is a 25 kV distribution node that consultants translate to about 20 megawatts of capacity; they said the team has secured a letter for about 15 megawatts for the near term. As Johnson summarized, “that substation has a 25 kV distribution…which…I’m told translates into 20 megawatts. And we’ve asked for 15 megawatts…And we’ve got that.”

Sewer and water were described as equally decisive. Hartley said the team has submitted preliminary capacity and design information to Charlotte Water and completed a pre-capacity study; Charlotte Water has returned comments that point to downstream capital improvements and, in the portion of the site that drains to Union County, the need for interjurisdictional agreements. The group said a sewer lift station at the county line will likely be needed to pump flow to existing trunk mains and that lift stations raise peaking factors and reduce apparent capacity for future users.

The presenters also gave examples of potential demand: some of the vetted inquiries could consume large amounts of water. Hartley said one potential end user’s water and sewer demand was estimated at about 480,000 gallons per day, a volume that “would definitely exceed the sewer capacity” in places and so would require upstream upgrades.

Environmental permitting and mitigation also figure in the schedule. The team said U.S. Army Corps of Engineers site visits have confirmed consultant delineations and that on-site impacts plus mitigation — either on-site mitigation or payment-in-lieu for wetlands and streams — are already being planned; Hartley said mitigation could take on the order of nine months in some cases.

The team described additional readiness steps: a rail spur from CSX could be constructed in roughly six months if a confirmed user requests rail service and it fits CSX’s economic-development criteria; transportation work along the adjacent corridors will be coordinated with NCDOT; and Duke Energy has received a Technical Application to assess multi-megawatt service for the campus over a three-to-five-year horizon.

Presenters said the campus is being marketed as an employment center for advanced manufacturing and related uses, and that inquiries range from single-site users that could take the entire developable acreage (the team said “a little over 200 acres developable”) to multiple smaller users across several parcels. The group said several potential users are “fast track” prospects that would expect phased operations within three to five years of signing.

Commissioners pressed presenters on the timing of utility upgrades, the substation’s headroom, the limits of Charlotte Water’s system sizing and how developers and the town might speed infrastructure delivery. Presenters repeatedly urged coordination with Charlotte Water, Duke Energy and Union County and asked the town to consider incentives or other mechanisms if it wants to accelerate system upgrades.

The Hendrick team did not propose any vote or commitment by the town during the meeting. Presenters said the group will return with more detailed master plans and that the town and county will continue technical coordination as users surface, utilities size systems and formal site-development steps are filed.

What’s next: the presenters said the team is finalizing a site master plan, continuing detailed capacity studies with Charlotte Water and Duke Energy, and preparing wetlands mitigation packages. They also said the Stallings side rezoning was scheduled at the Stallings hearing that same night. If a firm end user issues a notice to proceed, some project elements could move quickly; otherwise, infrastructure lead times — especially for major utility upgrades — could push full campus build-out into the longer horizon.

For now, commissioners and staff said they will monitor the technical studies and coordinate on any town-level decisions about incentives or community impacts as the work proceeds.