A company that invested $1.6 billion in network expansion
projects last fiscal year said the Greater Lehigh Valley plays a key role in
those plans.
The company, FedEx Ground, demonstrated that this morning
by hosting a groundbreaking for its major East Coast automated hub off
Willowbrook Road in Allen Township.
With construction now underway after years of meetings
and numerous challenges, officials celebrated the start of the
800,000-square-foot project which would employ 700 upon opening in two years.
At full build-out, the facility could employ more than 3,000 and be expanded to
1.1 million square feet. About 100 of those 700 employees would be transferred
from existing facilities.
“There’s potential for growth with every one of those
individuals,” said Scott Burns, vice president of regional operations for the
Eastern Region of FedEx Ground in Moon Township in suburban Pittsburgh.
Burns said he began his career at FedEx as a package
handler and moved up the ranks. Many employees who are hired often stay with
the company, he noted.
The Allen Township facility has the potential to produce
75,000 packages per hour, Scott said.
FedEx Ground continues to see steady growth in e-commerce
and has invested $1.6 billion in infrastructure for these types of facilities,
he said. For the Allen Township hub, it is investing $330 million, Burns said.
The investment includes road improvements and
package-processing equipment.
“There’s so much growth on the East Coast that we need
these types of buildings,” Burns said. “The growth is going to continue with
e-commerce.”
He estimated it would take one year to build and another
to complete the interior by August 2018.
“We’ve got about 15 other projects, not as large as
this,” Burns said.
Gov. Tom Wolf said FedEx’s decision to build a site here
is reaffirming how the state is a great place for business.
“That’s why the state has invested in this project,” Wolf
said. “They are reaffirming that. This is a big investment; a lot of new jobs
are coming here.
“We are pleased that FedEx is telling us what we already
know here.”
The FedEx facility will be on land Lehigh Valley
International Airport sold to pay off a longstanding debt.
Now, the airport will have the money needed to do
improvement that had been deferred, said Tony Iannelli, president and CEO of
the Greater Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce.
Larry Oberly, Allen Township supervisor, said FedEx is
the biggest business to enter the township since 1895, when Atlas Cement
opened.
“This is a godsend to us, and we appreciate it very
much,” Oberly said. “It’s been a long road; the process has been done with the
utmost integrity.”
Source: LVB
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