Front Street Capital pursues Triad's next megasite location
Being one of the Triad's busiest commercial and industrial real-estate developers means Front Street Capital is always on the lookout for potential major projects.
The Winston-Salem private-equity group is plenty occupied with construction of a high-profile, $515 million mixed-used project near Wake Forest University marketed as The Grounds with co-developer Carter of Atlanta.
Construction began in July 2025 on the first development piece, an $85 million student apartment complex branded as Creekside at The Grounds. The 229 furnished apartments are projected to be ready in time for the fall 2027 semester at Wake Forest.
Yet, Front Street is attempting simultaneously to move forward on what could be the Triad's next potential quasi-megasite - combining 19 undeveloped parcels into an 848.8-acre property off N.C. 47 at Junior Order Home and Old Linwood roads.
The development would be a key component of what Front Street calls "the Carolina Corridor" in central North Carolina that it is marketing as "Southeast's next major hub for economic growth."
In particular, Carolina Corridor Industrial Center is a "master-planned North Carolina industrial center designed for modern manufacturing, logistics and corporate investment."
According to the Carolina Corridor website, there's the potential for up to 8.4 million square feet of industrial space in up to 15 buildings that could range from 80,000 to 2 million square feet.
The tracts are being marketed in a range of 11 to 153 acres. There's on-site rail access via Norfolk Southern, integrated stormwater and a new connector road .
"The site offers unparalleled utilities, scale, speed and certainty for companies seeking a centrally located, competitive East Coast solution."
According to the N.C. Commerce Department, a megasite typically contains at least 1,000 acres.
The two high-profile megasites in the Triad are the advanced aviation manufacturing campus at Piedmont Triad International Airport with Boom Supersonic, Honda Aircraft Co., and JetZero, and the Toyota Battery Manufacturing NC plant in Liberty.
The Front Street property, along with the Conrad Hill property, could become the first Davidson County megasites, providing the Triad and the Carolina Core with its first new such industrial sites.
"Given we are in the early preliminary stages of this potential development, we do not have any comment," Front Street Capital said. "We will be happy to provide comments once we make further progress and have better details to share."
Its next step is a public hearing before the Lexington City Council at 6 p.m. Aug. 10 when a Front Street affiliate is petitioning for voluntary annexation into the city.
According to the petition, Front Street intends for the property to be used for commercial and industrial development.
The city clerk, at the direction of council, has been tasked with determining whether the city could provide the same level of infrastructure services as current city businesses.
During the council's June 22 meeting, several members asked city staff about the pros and cons of annexing the property, and how much could the development boost the city's property tax base.
City manager Johnnie Taylor told council that "it's difficult to determine the cost (of providing utilities) until we know exactly what will be located there."
Taylor said there are portions of the 848 acres that's already zoned light industrial, with others rural agricultural.
Property revaluation impact
Council members who appeared in favor of the annexation petition said their support comes in the context of the planned 2026 Davidson County residential property tax revaluation where the median rate increase was in the 40% to 45% range of the previous rate.
Davidson and Guilford are two of eight counties affected by bipartisan Senate Bill 889, whose residential homeowners gained a one-year break from property value reappraisals.
The bill, which Gov. Josh Stein signed into law on June 19, prevents those counties from implementing property tax revaluation changes for fiscal 2026-27.
The focus of SB889 was clearly on Guilford, particularly the revaluation completed earlier this year.
SB 889 was filed by Senate leader Phil Berger, R-Rockingham, and Sen. Steve Jarvis, R-Davidson. Berger said the moratorium "freezes any proposed property value adjustments prompted by a county property tax revaluation, but would allow those values to take effect in 2027."
"In view of what we just went through with the revaluations, and everybody's talking about tax rates, tax rates, tax rates ... we have the potential to create something that would have a very dramatic impact to the tax base of the city.
"Long term, this would be very beneficial to lowering the tax rates for citizens based on the tax burden shifting from the residential side to the industrial commercial side."
Other potential Davidson megasite
The Davidson Board of Commissioners recently approved the rezoning of 109.1-acre tract to limited industrial that adds land to another megasite in the county that now features 870 acres altogether.
The rezoning request was made by Phillip Corriher for Corriher Grange & Bradshaw on behalf of several dozen property owners.
The mostly undeveloped property is in the Conrad Hill township on the south side of U.S. 64 East near the Cunningham Brick Yard Road intersection. A large portion was the former Conrad Hill Mine site.
"This property is extremely well-suited for industrial development from the standpoint of infrastructure," according to the rezoning application.
The applicants compared the potential for the property to the county Business Center, located in the Linwood area and the U.S. 64 East corridor "where resources have been allocated to improve industrial recruitment and development."
The property has been identified by the county as part of a strategic "growth corridor."
The commissioners cited the presence of Egger and the Nucor Corp., Siemens Mobility North America and the Dai Nippon Printing Co. plants under development as examples of how corporations can not only create new jobs, but also serve as good corporate citizens.
Phillip Corriher told the commissioners that when he bought his first 70 acres at the site "I thought it would be in the path of progress one day" with his children being the ones to make any potential economic development decision.
"I want to help attract the next Nucor or Toyota, something that could have a great impact on the entire county," Corriher said.
John H. Boyd, founder and principal with global site-selection firm The Boyd Co. of Boca Raton, Fla., said there's an unprecedented lack of available, shovel-ready industrial sites in most U.S. markets.
"Real estate is playing a much bigger role, and earlier on in the site-selection process," Boyd said.
"These mega parcels of 1,000 acres help to distinguish North Carolina versus many other states and help in competition in particular with Georgia and Tennessee for large and coveted electric vehicle projects.
"In the site selection business - the availability and readiness of these large, fully serviced sites are used as a benchmark in evaluating a state's overall business climate."
Front Street resume
Front Street's portfolio includes primarily Class-A properties across the office, industrial, healthcare, and mixed-use sectors.
Its private-equity division features more than $1 billion in assets ideveloped or acquired in the Southeast.
Front Street has been redeveloping what was once referred to as Building 23-1 in downtown Winston-Salem into Bailey South, along with the Morris Building, for nearly 100,000 square feet of office and retail space.
The Grounds is located near the hub of Wake Forest sports, including Lawrence Joel Coliseum, Winston-Salem Fairgrounds, Allegacy Federal Credit Union Stadium, David F. Couch Ballpark and the Wake Forest Tennis Center, host of the Winston-Salem Open.
Wake Forest owns the properties, while Atlanta-based Carter is the co-developer. Other Phase 1 projects include an office building and a retail village.
The 100-acre development also will feature 42,000 square feet of local and regional shops, restaurants, and outdoor gathering spaces; a 130,000-square-foot Class A building intended for university leasing; and 22 loft-style residential apartments above retail buildings.
Front Street's development resume already features several high-profile projects in the Triad, including in Davidson County.
In April, Siemens Mobility Inc. unveiled its $220-million passenger rail manufacturing center in Lexington, where the global company has pledged to create at least 506 full-time jobs by 2028.
The plant serves as an East Coast production plant for passenger rail cars, also known as rolling stock.
Production debuts with a workforce of 388 and with the first rail cars on track for delivery this summer.
Siemens' facilities are at 100 Venture Way within the 202-acre Lexington Industrial Park that is a public-private joint venture between the city and Front Street.
In September, Front Street disclosed plans for a $35 million, 420,000-square-foot industrial building in southwest Winston-Salem. The site is an undeveloped 30.46-acre tract at 4015 Wallburg Road, located at the intersection of Wallburg Road, Hayes Drive and Union Cross Road.
"We are nearing absorption of all of our land holdings around Park at 74, and this land acquisition was to provide future opportunities for industrial growth," Coleman Team, Front Street's president and managing partner, said in September.
There's also a 300,000-square-foot speculative building at Union Cross Industrial Center off Axle Drive, and two 45,000-square-foot flex industrial buildings at Wallburg Road set for delivery in the first quarter.
Front Street contributed to the 2024 development of Ziehl-Abegg's North American headquarters, a 522,500-square-foot, build-to-suit facility at Union Cross Industrial Center in Winston-Salem.
Front Street also developed a 144,000-square-foot speculative building in Union Cross Industrial Center that gained Excel Interior Doors as a tenant in late 2023 for its East Coast production and distribution hub.
The group also developed Greenboro's first new downtown office tower in decades, a nine-story, 110,000-square-foot building on the northwest corner of Eugene and Bellemeade streets.
Copyright 2026 Tribune Content Agency. All Rights Reserved.
This story was originally published July 4, 2026 at 5:44 AM.