Two large projects will shortly begin construction at the industrial area near Punta Gorda Airport.
Joshua Polhill, director of pre-construction for GCM Contracting Solutions, said a groundbreaking ceremony will be held at 9:30 a.m. Aug. 24 off Piper Road for two buildings on a 5-acre site for one of the projects.
The buildings will house a showroom, office space and storage and warehouse areas for Balentine Builder Services’ custom countertops and cabinetry business, he said.
Joshua Polhill
The main building is 50,000 square feet and will include 11,250 square feet of showroom and office space. The second 15,000-square-foot building will be used primarily for warehousing.
A half mile away from Balentine’s site is the King of Vape project at Woodlawn and Duffie drives, also off Piper Road.
King of Vape has store locations in Florida plus an online business which sells vape-related products.
Polhill said the King of Vape three-story building will total 139,088 square feet, of which 116,340 square feet will consist of an air-conditioned warehouse plus 22,748 square feet of office space.
Both projects’ buildings will have tilt wall construction, in which slabs of concrete panels are cast horizontally and then tilted in place with a crane.
This type of construction is common in warehouse buildings, Polhill said.
While these two projects are in their infancy stage of construction, nearing completion is a $50 million 378,000-square-foot warehouse logistics center at the Punta Gorda Airport Interstate Park, next to where a FedEx ground facility is being built.
Already 72,000 square feet has been leased to a flooring company, said Kay Tracy, business recruitment manager for Charlotte County Economic Development.
Polhill said the current level of building activity in Charlotte County and Southwest Florida in general, is a far cry from the recession, pandemic and supply-chain problems the area has experienced.
Following Hurricane Ian nearly a year ago, building and construction activity has been increasing at a steady rate, he said.
