FedEx to build regional headquarters in Panama City; will service area from Pensacola to Tallahassee
PANAMA CITY — FedEx plans to build a new distribution center in Panama City to service the region from Pensacola to Tallahassee, economic developers announced on Tuesday.
According to the Bay County Economic Development Alliance, the new 251,000-square-foot FedEx Ground facility will support 208 jobs and will be built in the Port Panama City-owned Intermodal Distribution Center on Highway 231. Construction has begun and the facility is set to open in the fall.
“They could have gone anywhere in the Panhandle, but they chose us because we had a shovel-ready certified site,” said Becca Hardin, president of the Bay County Economic Development Alliance. “This will be their regional headquarters. … It’s a huge capital investment.”
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FedEx will replace a smaller, 60,000-square-foot facility it has operated at the Intermodal Distribution Center and move the existing 25 employees there to the new site, Hardin said.
Codenamed “Project Rocket,” the Bay EDA, Port Panama City, the city of Panama City and Bay County worked with the Westmoreland Co. Inc. (developer for the FedEx Ground project) and FedEx Ground to solidify the project, a Bay EDA press release states
“We are pleased to partner with Port Panama City and local government to help this great company grow in Bay County,” Will Cramer, chairman of the Bay EDA, said in a Tuesday press release. “Distribution and logistics is one of our key target markets in economic development recruitment and this project further diversifies our local economy and has a major impact on our county’s continued growth. This is a great example of the success that can be celebrated through the efforts of public/private partnership.”