The cost of wharf fare.

Building a container terminal is, in a way, like buying a car: The extras can really add up. The State Ports Authority says one proposed in Brunswick County would cost $1.7 billion, up from the original estimate of about $1 billion. Roads, rail links and other improvements will add $500 million to the tab, spokes woman Karen Fox says. The payoff? The N.C. International Port, near Southport, would create 16,500 jobs, and private development would generate $1.1 billion a year in local and state taxes by 2030. The first phase would open in 2017. Revenue from operations, federal grants and state money would pay for the port. More foreign trade and crowding at East Coast ports make the terminal necessary, the authority says.

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WILSON -- Augusta, Ga.-based Hull Storey Retail Group says its sale of three North Carolina malls and eight others to Atlanta-based Hendon Properties for $214 million fell through because of a tight credit market. The largest was Wilson Mall. The others were Blue Ridge Mall in Hendersonville and Twin Rivers Mall in New Bern.

WILSON -- Becton Dickinson, a Franklin Lakes, N.J.-based medical-equipment...