Land, labor drew second CT FedEx hub to Middletown

Rendering | Contributed Artist's sketch of FedEx Ground's distribution-hub facility going up in Middletown.

PHOTO | Contributed Celeron Apartments in the Storrs section of Mansfield.

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FedEx Corp.'s plan to open a second New England overnight package-document delivery hub in Connecticut reflects not only the company's growing need for more facilities like it, but also the availability of sufficient land and skilled talent, a FedEx executive says.

The Memphis, Tenn., company broke ground May 12 on a $220 million, 525,000-square-foot package-collection and distribution hub in Middletown that will have around 250 loading/unloading doors. The FedEx Ground facility, located on the former Aetna Inc. site on Country Club Road, will employ 500 workers and is set to open in Sept. 2018.

“Connecticut will have two major facilities operating here,'' said FedEx Northeast region manager Alex Kapinos, a Norwich native now living in Somers who has spent 28 years at the global express courier.

The company's other New England hub is in Willington, a 220,000-square-foot facility at 350 Ruby Road that opened in 1986. In all, FedEx has five distribution/package-sorting facilities in this state. The others are in South Windsor, Stratford, plus a pair in New Haven, Kapinos said. Worldwide, FedEx operates 500 distribution hubs.

“It was time to have a second one in New England,'' Kapinos said. In total, FedEx Ground operations in New England directly or indirectly support roughly 5,700 jobs, including about 1,200 in Connecticut, FedEx spokesman David Westrick said.

Among factors that FedEx weighs in reviewing hub sites are accessibility to key transportation nodes such as highways and airports, Kapinos said. Also, the company considers the availability of suitable land on which to build and the proximity to talent pools.

“There's a lot of open space around Connecticut,'' Kapinos said. “It's centrally located, good labor force. We're a growing company. We need people right from the community.''

Perhaps even more helpful to FedEx in choosing the hub site was the city of Middletown's willingness to cooperate with the company on site selection and obtaining city clearances to develop the space. Kapinos said other New England sites were considered for FedEx's latest hub, but he said he couldn't recall them.

Michigan commercial developer Barton Malow is overseeing development of the Middletown facility and will choose a general contractor, Westrick said.

Celeron Sq.'s $12.5M refi

The huge Celeron Square student apartments in the shadow of UConn's main campus in the Storrs section of Mansfield have undergone a $12.5 million mortgage refinancing, a lender says.

Landlord Celeron Square Associates LLC obtained the reworked mortgage through Rhode Island lender Washington Trust.

Located at 180 Hunting Lodge Road in Storrs, Celeron Square was built between 1985 and 1987 on 20 acres.

It consists of 22 buildings containing 160 garden-style apartment units, with 416 beds. Each building contains eight units — four per floor. The unit mix includes 40 one-bedroom units containing 80 beds; 56 two-bedroom units containing 144 beds; and 64 three-bedroom units containing 192 beds.

There is on-site parking for 320 vehicles. A private pathway links the apartments to the UConn campus.n

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Gregory Seay is the Hartford Business Journal News Editor.

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