FedEx is scheduled to build a new packing and distribution center in Ontario's Beer Road Industrial Park.
Mark Weidemyre, director of the Ontario Growth Corporation, said Wednesday that the building will create 150 jobs, according to the Mansfield News Journal. The plan was given final site plan approval on Wednesday by the Ontario Planning Commission for a 157,845-square-foot Westmoreland Company warehouse building.
Construction may start in May or June and should be finished by the middle of 2015, WMFD reported.
Weidemyre stated that FedEx has looked at a few locations for the building, such as areas in Crawford County, but felt Ontario was the best choice. He also said the packaging and shipping operation will include 50 truck docks when it begins construction. FedEx looks to invest around $6 million to $7 million in conveyor equipment, the Mansfield News Journal reported.
The developer of the building plans to hire local construction contractors, the Mansfield News Journal reported. FedEx is looking to hire local people for jobs with wages of $18 to $20 an hour. A business that does repair work on FedEx trucks may move to Ontario Industrial Park, which would employ 20 people.
Ontario City Council voted in January to give the mayor permission to sign an assumption of purchase agreement with a developer for the building. Before the decision, the council voted on an ordinance that let the mayor sign a purchase and sales agreement with JDC Property Group, a developer from Kansas City, Mo., for approximately 22.1 acres of real estate at $7,500 an acre. The project to build a new facility has since then been given to Westmoreland Group of Huntsville, Ala., another developer, the Mansfield News Journal reported.
Ontario is also looking to build a road that leads to the FedEx building. The road will be named Urwin Parkway in honor of the late Ontario Mayor, Bob Urwin.
"It's a significant investment for Ontario and just the first of many," Weidemyre said.
