FedEx Begins Construction on Distribution Facility in Florida
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Construction has begun on a 42,000-square-foot FedEx distribution center near the airport in Gainesville, Fla.
Development of the land and building, privately funded by FedEx Corp., is expected to cost about $9 million and be completed this summer.
The city and the Gainesville Alachua County Regional Airport Authority collaborated to sell the 8.5-acre property to FedEx at market value, about $296,000, said Erik Bredfeldt, Gainesville’s director of economic development and innovation.
The new center will replace a facility FedEx is leasing.
About 20 jobs are expected to be added at the new center, Bredfeldt said. The total number of employees will be 80 to 85.
Gainesville Regional Airport spokeswoman Erin Porter said although the project is near the airport, it is not adjacent to the airfield runway and taxiway system. The distribution center will instead develop roads for truck transport.
Bredfeldt said an investment in Gainesville for delivery purposes may be a result of the growth of online commerce in the area.
FedEx Ground, a subsidiary of FedEx Corp., in August 2016 opened a 400,000-square-foot distribution center on 150 acres in Ocala. The hub was built to complement FedEx’s Orlando operations.
And in November 2018, Amazon opened a 10,000-square-foot delivery center in the industrial park, providing about 100 full- and part-time jobs.
The Gainesville Whole Foods also contains Amazon Hub Lockers, which online shoppers can use for package pickup.
UPS Inc. also is in talks with the city to possibly expand its facilities in town by adding more space or building its own new center, Bredfeldt said.
UPS ranks No. 1 and FedEx No. 2 on the Transport Topics Top 100 list of for-hire carriers in North America.
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