SALISBURY — The Salisbury City Council approved the annexation and rezoning of a property on Grace Church Road that would allow for an over 200,000-square-foot logistics center.

The request was for an almost 33-acre property that stood outside of the city limits, but the applicant, Rocky Mount-based SJP Properties, has voluntarily asked for annexation into the city so that it can hook up to the city’s utility lines, said Senior Planner Victoria Bailiff. The property is located in the 400 and 500 blocks of Grace Church Road, just across from the UFP Industries building.

As the property is currently under Rowan County’s jurisdiction, it is listed as being zoned Commercial, Business or Industrial. The property owner asked for Light Industrial zoning once it enters the city limits, which Bailiff and the applicant’s attorney John Floyd said has the most in common with the county’s CBI district. Floyd also said that the rezoning fit the area, pointing to the fact that the entirety of the surrounding area was either zoned CBI or Industrial if it was in the county or LI if it was in the city limits.

After being asked by councilor Harry McLaughlin what the company planned to use the property for, Floyd said that the company hopes to build an approximately 290,000-square-foot building that would be used both for warehouse and flex space. The company envisions the building, which Floyd called the Grace Logistics Center, being split into four separate 60,000- to 80,000-square-foot spaces, each of which would be rented to a different tenant.

“Each of those would ideally be a business that would need both warehousing and storeroom space, think like a cabinetmaker, a stone and granite store. Some place where you keep stuff in the back and then you can still have people come in and walk through the showroom and see everything,” said Floyd.

Councillor Anthony Smith asked what process was used to decide upon that specific property and the annexation request, to which Michael Gorman, a representative of developer SJP Properties, said that the development was purely speculative and no potential tenants had yet been identified. However, Gorman also said that there was a significant market for space in that square foot range, which combined with the nearby utilities and interstate to make the property desirable.

“Right now it’s purely speculative, but there’s a lot of demand in that size,” said Gorman.

He also said that the developer was working on getting the permits to extend sewer service to the site. Once that was approved, the company plans to extend the sewer to both sides of the property in an effort to be good neighbors to any future owners.

After the discussion, the members of the city council voted unanimously to approve both the annexation and the rezoning requests.