Sysco Corp has signed a memorandum of understanding to purchase a 320-acre site in Hamlet IN, where the firm will construct its third redistribution center (RDC) and create about 500 new jobs.
The state of Indiana, through the Indiana Economic Development Corp (IEDC); Starke County; and the town of Hamlet cooperated to offer an incentive package to bring Sysco’s Midwest Redistribution Center.
The roughly 700,000-square-foot operation will provide freezer, refrigeration, dry storage, office space, and a truck maintenance facility. Completion is expected within 18 months after construction begins. Once operating, the RDC will supply 14 Sysco centers in Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky, Iowa, Michigan, Ohio, Missouri, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.
In other news, Sysco will boost the Knoxville-Oak Ridge (TN) Innovation Valley economy with the proposed investment of a $34.2 million complex that will create 300 jobs. Under the plan, Sysco will build a 300,000-sq-ft facility in downtown Knoxville's I-275 Business Park, a redeveloped brownfield property owned by the city's industrial development board.
Besides buying the 44-acre business park, Sysco anticipates buying an adjacent 35 acres now owned by Norfolk Southern railroad. Construction of Sysco’s facility is expected to start this year and be operational by 2008. The facility will serve customers in eastern Tennessee, northern Georgia, western North Carolina, and western Virginia and will include refrigerated, frozen, and dry warehouse space; administrative offices; and a truck maintenance facility.
