FedEx acquires land, may create jobs

KERNERSVILLE, Oct 04, 2008 (Winston-Salem Journal - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- FDX | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating -- FedEx Ground Package System Inc. has bought 125 acres in Triad Business Park that Triad officials hope will be the site of a $110 million regional shipping center that could bring hundreds of jobs with it.

"It's great news for Kernersville," said Mayor Dawn H. Morgan of the Town of Kernersville. "It will help us to have more jobs in the area. It will strengthen and diversify our tax base and it will be an economic boost for the area."

Morgan confirmed that Kernersville officials have been in talks with FedEx Ground about preliminary site plans.

FedEx Ground, a subsidiary of FedEx Corp., considers the land purchase a strong indication that it wants to build on the site, but a company spokesman cautioned that the shipping center is not a done deal until it gets through the zoning and permit process.

"Definitely land is purchased," said David Westrick, a FedEx spokesman. "But we are not ready to announce that we are ready to break ground at that facility yet."

The 400,000-square-foot shipping center would be a sorting hub operation.

The FedEx Ground site is just east of Kernersville in Guilford County, but it's within the Kernersville zoning district. Kernersville annexed the park earlier this year.

The proposed site is a few miles from Piedmont Triad International Airport, where FedEx is building an East Coast air-shipping hub.

Three local governments are working with the company on the potential ground facility.

Guilford County commissioners voted in July to give nearly $1 million to FedEx Ground if the company brought up to 470 jobs to the area over the next six years. High Point will provide sewer and water services for the site through a municipal-services agreement with Kernersville.

Kirk Perkins, the chairman of the Guilford County Board of Commissioners is "cautiously very optimistic" about the Triad's chances of landing the shipping center.

"If they have purchased the land and are moving forward with preliminary plans and are talking with permit officials, which is my understanding, they are seriously moving forward. But I don't think you can just assume that it's 100 percent positive. Even though they have spent money and even though they have bought land, if something else came up they can turn around and sell the land or hold it."

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