FedEx adds to Memphis airport footprint
Officials approve lease amendment giving largest tenant more space for world hub
Memphis International Airport officials agreed Thursday to lease more land to super-tenant FedEx.
The Memphis-Shelby County Airport Authority approved a long-term lease for 72,172 square feet adjoining the FedEx Express world hub.
FedEx intends to use the unimproved land for ground support equipment storage, airport officials said.
The addition is a drop in the bucket compared with FedEx’s overall presence at Memphis International, where the shipping giant has more than 30 million square feet of land under lease.
Airport president Scott Brockman said FedEx will pay about $15,000 a year in rent on the additional land.
FedEx spokesman Jim McCluskey said in an email, “FedEx is pleased the airport authority approved a modification of our lease agreement that incorporates more than 72,000-square-feet of additional, undeveloped property. The parcel, adjacent to our World Hub, will be paved and used for storage of groundsupport equipment starting in February 2018.”
The lease amendment comes at a time when FedEx is preparing to take possession later this year of airport administration and airfield maintenance buildings at the southeast corner of the airport near Tchulahoma and Winchester.
FedEx previously said its ground equipment maintenance group would be relocated to the 15-acre site.
The airport has moved administrative workers into new offices on the terminal’s mezzanine level. It’s converting an industrial building into temporary quarters for airfield maintenance personnel and equipment while planning a new building.
FedEx has steadily expanded the hub in the dozen years since it gained access to the former Tennessee Air National Guard base property on Democrat Road. A new military base was built at Swinnea and Shelby Drive.
The airport also freed up space for FedEx by moving rental car operations, formerly on Democrat, into a ground transportation center next to the terminal. FedEx is using the land for tractor-trailer parking.
Contact reporter Wayne Risher at 901-529-2874 or wayne.risher@commercialappeal.com.