North State Steel
Celebrating 40 Years of Construction
North State Steel’s projects often contain thousands of tons of steel involving many complex angles. Marking their 40th year in business this year, North State Steel, headquartered in Greenville, is known for its high-quality fabrication, detailing, and engineering work, with the bulk of its construction projects located in North Carolina and Virginia. North State Steel specializes in a wide range of projects, from industrial, commercial, and educational buildings to healthcare, entertainment, and mixed-use facilities. With hundreds of projects requiring various levels of complexity on their list of achievements, North State is known for never backing down from a design challenge.
The company began in 1984, when Tom Trevathan, PE, founder and CEO, realized the need for quality fabricated steel products. Starting out in Greenville with only a half-dozen employees and a 5,000-square-foot shop, North State Steel earned a reputation for providing excellent customer service and quality products at a fair price, delivered on time. This experience and knowledge have helped the company grow and expand to almost 80 employees today, having added a second location in Louisburg, NC, in 1994.
In 2018, North State Steel transitioned to a 100% employee-owned company, with Tom continuing to remain active in day-to-day operations as CEO. Jon Morgan, who has worked with the company for 15 years since earning a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from North Carolina State University, serves as president; and Kari Bell, who has worked for 18 years in a wide range of capacities for the company including drafting, project estimating and management, serves as vice president.
Cathy Allsbrook, chief financial officer, recently celebrated 30 years with North State Steel. Cathy has worked closely with Allen Clayton, TowneBank commercial banker, to move the organization’s banking relationship to Towne. “Allen has been absolutely great to work with,” says Cathy. “He has helped walk us through all of this and helped to make the transition as easy as possible. He is very accessible and just always ready to help.”
“North State Steel has a great team,” says Allen. “They are very knowledgeable in what they do, and they value relationships. They had been with their previous bank since they started the company. We knew their banking relationship was important to them, and we want to bank with individuals and companies who value relationships as much as we do.”
Since its inception, North State Steel’s success has enabled it to expand in every aspect of the business. This evolution has taken the company from jobs consisting of only a couple of tons of steel, to larger projects containing a few thousand tons that involve complex angles and require difficult math and geometry.
North State Steel provided impressive work for the Daily Planet which is the centerpiece of the Nature Resource Center at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences.
One of their most unique projects, the Daily Planet, is a must-see located in downtown Raleigh. Completed in 2012, the Daily Planet is a four-story, steel-framed sphere whose exterior resembles a globe while the interior contains a surround screen that can be viewed from all floors, with theater seating on the first level and balconies on the second and third levels. The structure serves as the centerpiece of the Nature Resource Center, an 80,000-square-foot facility that connects the NC Museum of Natural Sciences with the NC Department of Environmental and Natural Resources office building via skywalks.
Other noteworthy North State Steel projects include:
Education
- East Carolina University Health Sciences Campus Student Service Center, Greenville, NC
- University of NC Roper School of Medicine Education Building, Chapel Hill, NC
- Duke University Hollows Residence Hall, Durham, NC
Healthcare
- Cape Fear Valley Medical Vertical Expansion, Fayetteville, NC
- UNC Health Nash Women’s Center, Chapel Hill, NC
- Sentara Norfolk General Hospital vertical expansion, Norfolk, VA
Entertainment/Specialty
- Raleigh Union Station Plaza Canopy, Raleigh, NC
- Christopher Newport University Performing Arts Center, Newport News, VA
- Capital One Hall performing arts theater, Tysons Corner, VA
- Elm Street Park, Greenville, NC
TowneBank Greenville
TowneBank North Ridge
TowneBank has incorporated North State Steel products into both of its newest North Carolina offices – in North Raleigh at North Ridge Financial Center, which opened in November 2023, and in the new Greenville office, located at the intersection of Red Banks Road and East Arlington Boulevard that opened in January 2024.
For more information, visit NorthStateSteel.com.