FedEx Ground plans building

FedEx Ground will consolidate its Spokane operations beginning in October when it moves to a new 56,000-square-foot building to be constructed in the Spokane Business and Industrial Park.

The new structure will replace a 17,000-square-foot building at 11511 E. Indiana and a 10,600-square-foot building at 11407 E. Montgomery. The new building will be built on 15 acres in the North Park section of the Spokane Valley complex.

“This will be a substantial increase for us,” said Allison Sobczak, a spokeswoman for FedEx Ground. “We’d like to get moved in or relocated before peak, which is our holiday shopping season. We’ll be ready to go for the holidays.”

The new building represents a $4.35 million investment by FedEx Ground, she said. It will be built and owned by the Alabama-based Westmoreland Company, through its subsidiary Sawtooth Associates West LLC. Crown West Realty LLC, which owns the industrial park, said in a news release that the structure should be done by July.

The expansion will not necessitate more hiring immediately, but it could in the future, Sobczak said. FedEx Ground currently employs 84 full-time and part-time workers, many of whom are independent contractors.

The FedEx Ground consolidation is part of a $1.8 billion nationwide initiative that began in September 2002 and will include nine new hubs and the expansion or relocation of 290 “local terminals” like the one in Spokane, Sobczak said.

Business writer Alison Boggs can be reached at (509) 459-5491 or by email at alisonb@spokesman.com.