FedEx Ground Distribution Center in Little Rock to Employ 160

Artist’s rendering of the new FedEx Distribution Center in Little Rock.

FedEx Corp. of Memphis broke ground Thursday on a 300,000-SF Ground distribution facility in southwest Little Rock. The publicly traded logistics firm plans to employ about 160 people there.

The center, scheduled to open in August 2016, will sit on a 44-acre site near the northwest corner of Alexander and Loop roads. A company affiliated with FedEx purchased the pastureland from R&D Holding LLLP, led by Don Thompson, for $3.38 million.

Once operational, the plant will be able to process 15,000 packages per hour. It will join 560 other Ground distribution points throughout the country.

Construction will include creating a new street, called Industry Parkway, which will link with Alexander Road to the south and Loop Road to the east.

Scott Hardin, a spokesman for the Arkansas Economic Development Commission, said the project was helped along by a $250,000 Economic Infrastructure Fund (EIF) grant for infrastructure buildout that was matched by $250,000 from the city of Little Rock.

Officials from FedEx, along with U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton, U.S. Rep. French Hill, Lt. Gov. Tim Griffin, Little Rock Mayor Mark Stodola and Pulaski County Judge Barry Hyde attended the event.

FedEx Ground spokesman Jesse Bull said the Little Rock facility is part of a national expansion for the company and will become part of a network of 560 distribution hubs and pickup centers across the country. The Little Rock project will consolidate and expand district operations, he said.

Stodola said the project is significant for the city of Little Rock and central Arkansas.

“In addition to the 160 high-paying jobs, there are 400 parking places planned, and that tells me there’s growth ahead,” he said.

Stodola and Griffin each jokingly noted the 1971 founding of Federal Express in Little Rock by Fred Smith, who eventually moved his startup to Memphis when the Little Rock airport commission decided against building a new runway to accomodate the company.

“We should’ve learned a long time ago that when FedEx says they want to do something in Arkansas, the answer should be ‘Yes, yes, yes,'” Griffin said. “We’ve learned our lesson.”