It’s not the first time a TV show factored in someone’s decision to move to Wilmington.

Bill Pritchett’s daughters loved One Tree Hill, a Wilmington-shot drama that aired from 2003 to 2012, so the family vacationed along the city’s riverfront.

“We’ve been coming for years for long weekends and loved it so much,” Pritchett said. “I got lucky with the Hajoca Corporation reaching out to me and saying that because of business trends and the growth, the market’s just perfect for the company.”

Hajoca Corp. will occupy 20,000 square feet of leased space at 3200 Corporate Drive (pictured below) in Wilmington, with Pritchett as the profit center manager. Pritchett, who moved to the area from Baltimore, Maryland, has more than 30 years of sales experience in the plumbing and HVAC wholesale industry.

New to Wilmington, the company is one of the nation’s largest privately held wholesale distributors of plumbing, heating and cooling, pool and industrial supplies, according to Hajoca officials. 

At its new location, Pritchett said, “we’re going to have plumbing, light commercial (such as restaurants and office buildings) and HVAC accessories, and we will have a plumbing showroom open around the first of the year.”

Wilmington-based commercial real estate brokers assisted in the transaction. Steve Hall of Blue Coast Commercial Realty represented the owner of 3200 Corporate Drive, which is in Northchase Industrial Park, while Will Leonard of Cape Fear Commercial represented Hajoco Corp. 

Hall said he sees “a good amount of interest” from companies looking for new locations.

“Each industrial tenant and/or buyer that I speak with will have certain criteria under which they need to work. Location, delivery dates, visibility, ceiling heights, lease rates, among several other items, all play a role in the decision-making process and knowing how to navigate those issues plays a key part in finding the perfect location. 

“Hajoca Corp. is a very desirable tenant for a landlord, and we are glad to have them in the building.”

Company officials said Hajoca, founded in 1858, has 450 locally managed locations and 60 different regionally established trade names.