Houston Chronicle

FedEx facility to create 400 jobs in area

Officials say the new hub helps position Houston as a leader in logistics market

- By Bryan Kirk

More than 400 new jobs will be coming to the Cypress and Katy communitie­s when the FedEx Ground shipping service opens one of the largest logistics hubs in the nation in August 2017.

“This is an exciting day for us,” FedEx Ground vice president Vince Hamilton said at a beam-signing ceremony last month for the 800,000-squarefoot facility, which will be south of FM 529 along the Grand Parkway in Cypress.

Hamilton said the new hub will process 22,500 packages at its opening and will likely handle as many as 1 million a day when it is fully staffed in 2022.

“The full-scale operation, when this hub is finished … it will be the fastest hub at 75,000 packages per hour,” Hamilton said.

The facility is part of a nationwide network expansion plan that includes 560 distri- bution hubs and local pickup-and-delivery stations.

The hub will be the flagship of FedEx Ground, Hamilton said. The company is a subsidiary of FedEx Corp.

“This doesn’t just mean jobs, it means career opportunit­ies for the folks in Cy-Fair and the surroundin­g Houston area,” Hamilton said.

Jason Ford, vice president for regional economic developmen­t for the Greater Houston Partnershi­p, said the facility helps expand Houston’s position as one of the nation’s top logistics hubs.

“We believe that this project is emblematic, really, of the continued growth and prosperity of our region,” Ford said.

The announceme­nt of the new hub was made within weeks of the opening of two new segments of the Grand Parkway, which once it’s completed will improve access to the Port of Houston and provide a more direct route to delivery access points.

Hamilton said FedEx has been looking in the Houston region since 2012.

Businesses have anticipate­d the Grand Parkway completion to the point that developers flocked to a December tour of segments linking U.S290 with Interstate 69.

Leslie Martone, president of the Cy-Fair Houston Chamber of Commerce, said plans for the FedEx hub will have an enormous local impact in a corridor poised for rapid developmen­t.

“What is amazing in the Cy-Fair community is seeing the growth on the Grand Parkway,” she said.

 ?? FedEx ?? FedEx Ground plans to open an 800,000-square-foot facility in 2017 in the Cypress area. The hub will bring more than 400 jobs to the area.
FedEx FedEx Ground plans to open an 800,000-square-foot facility in 2017 in the Cypress area. The hub will bring more than 400 jobs to the area.

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