Two warehouses with 250 jobs coming to Suffolk

SUFFOLK

A vision for a massive distribution hub west of downtown Suffolk took two big steps toward reality on Wednesday.

Gov. Bob McDonnell announced that Ace Hardware Corp. plans to spend $14 million and hire 75 workers to build a distribution center in the new warehouse park across Route 58 from the existing Target warehouse. Ace Hardware is leasing a 336,969-square-foot warehouse that already is under construction.

And a Navy spokesman said Wednesday that the Navy Exchange Service Command signed a lease Monday for a neighboring 350,000-square-foot distribution center. Land is being cleared next to where the Ace warehouse is being built for the Navy Exchange project.

The two are the first two buildings in the CenterPoint Intermodal Center, a 920-acre complex where CenterPoint Properties Trust plans to develop 5.8 million square feet of distribution warehouses.

“This is tremendous validation for the City of Suffolk and the entire Hampton Roads region as a center of international trade,” McDonnell said in a news release. “I am extremely pleased that Ace Hardware Corp. has recognized the world-class capabilities of Virginia’s premier transportation system that includes the Port of Virginia, one of the largest intermodal networks on the East Coast.”

The Pilot first reported that a Suffolk warehouse was being built for Ace Hardware a few weeks ago, but Wednesday’s announcement is the first official confirmation.

“It continues to verify that we are a great location for logistics and distribution operations,” said Kevin Hughes, Suffolk’s economic development director. “These were projects that were months in the works.”

The Navy Exchange command plans to consolidate operations there from two smaller warehouses in Norfolk once the new one is complete next June, said Jim Brantley, a public information officer for the Naval Facilities Engineering Command.

The Navy project will bring 175 jobs to the city and offer room for expansion, Hughes said.

The Navy Exchange command, headquartered in Virginia Beach, not only operates the worldwide network of Navy and Marine Corps retail stores, but also ships’ stores, Navy lodges and other programs such as telecommunications and uniform policy and research.

Ace Hardware, which is based in Oak Brook, Ill., is a nationwide cooperative of more than 4,500 independently-owned hardware stores. There are 15 Ace Hardware stores within 50 miles of Norfolk, ranging from Corolla, N.C., to Franklin and Matthews.

Dubbed the Ace Hardware Import Re-Distribution Center, the Suffolk warehouse “will allow us to more efficiently ship goods to our East Coast retailers and ensure that they will be able to continue providing superior service to their customers,” Tim Duvall, Ace’s supply chain director, said in the governor’s news release.

Jobs at the warehouse will pay an average of $19 per hour, Hughes said.

Construction is scheduled to be completed by May.

Ace Hardware looked at several sites along the Gulf and East Coasts to establish its distribution center, said Lori Bossmann, an Ace Hardware senior vice president, in the news release.

“Suffolk is only 30 miles from the Port of Virginia, which is the most modern port in the United States,” she said. “We also have the capabilities to expand our new facility up to 500,000 square feet in order to accommodate future needs and anticipated growth.”

Gov. McDonnell approved a $100,000 grant from the Governor’s Opportunity Fund to assist Suffolk with the Ace project.

The Suffolk warehouse will receive shipments from international suppliers and distribute them to Ace’s regional warehouses, including an 800,000-square-foot distribution center in Prince George County, near where Interstate 295 intersects U.S. Route 460. It employs about 275 workers there.

When it announced the warehouse complex a few years ago, CenterPoint Properties, also based in Oak Brook, Ill., said it planned to develop 13 buildings there, creating as many as 2,900 jobs and eventually generating about $3 million in real estate taxes.

Both Ace Hardware and the Navy Exchange command “represent our core business plan; developing facilities for tenants that need a prime location in a well planned business park with good access to interstate highways and the opportunity to take advantage of both truck and rail transportation along with direct access to the Ports of Virginia,” said Robert Harbour, senior vice president of infrastructure and transportation for CenterPoint in Norfolk, in an email.

Two years ago, CenterPoint made an offer to take over the management of the Virginia Port Authority’s marine cargo terminals in Hampton Roads. The state decided to keep the port’s operations in-house with Virginia Internationals Terminals Inc., a private, nonprofit operating company owned by the Port Authority.

Pilot writer Jeff Sheler contributed to this report.
Josh Brown, (757) 446-2318, josh.brown@pilotonline.com