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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowFedEx is looking to nearly double the size of its SmartPost distribution operations on the city's southwest side by building a bigger hub at the Ameriplex Indianapolis business park.
SmartPost is a FedEx business unit that ships small, low-weight packages through the U.S. Postal Service.
The company’s development partner, JDC Indy, expects to spend $20 million on the new 328,000 square-foot warehouse and distribution facility at 5800 S. Raceway Road, while FedEx will spend about $14 million on new logistics and distribution equipment, according to a preliminary resolution that will go to the Metropolitan Development Commission June 5.
FedEx's existing SmartPost facility currently operates in 180,000 square feet of space about 2 miles away at 5454 Decatur Blvd.
FedEx and JDC Indy are looking for tax abatements on the real estate and equipment, though the new facility would be outside an established economic revitalization area. JDC, a subsidiary of Jones Development Co. in Kansas City, Mo., would see its tax bill cut nearly in half with the recommended 10-year property-tax abatement, saving $2.1 million.
Department of Metropolitan Development staff expect the 59-acre site will increase in value by $14 million and net $420,000 a year in additional property-tax revenue after the abatement expires.
FedEx says it will hire 15 more full-time workers, earning an average $15.53 per hour, by 2014 and retain 51 people who now work at the smaller facility in Decatur Township. FedEx would also keep 250 permanent part-time positions and hire as many as 109 more part-timers as a result of the expansion, according to the MDC resolution.
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