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BY JOHN REED
LEADER EDITOR
HAMLET — An affiliate of major food service marketer SYSCO officially took possession of a 320-acre site on U.S. 35 at County Road 500 North on June 11.
The affiliate, Baugh Midwest Cooperative, is preparing to construct an 850,000-square-foot redistribution center at the Hamlet site. The facility will include freezer, refrigeration and dry storage, offices and a truck maintenance facility.
The structure is almost as large as 15 football fields, or will cover 19.5 acres.
The facility, known as an RDC, when fully operational, will supply products to SYSCO's operating companies in the Midwest. Those units, in turn, sell, market and distribute food products, food service equipment and supplies to restaurants, healthcare and educational facilities, as well as to the hospitality industry.
Construction is expected to begin early this summer, and construction should continue for about 16 months. Several outbuildings have been torn down, but the large farmhouse, garage and a pole barn will be left on the site as a headquarters area for contractors.
"They are in the process of cleanup at this time," said Starke County Development Foundation (SCDF) Executive Director Charles Weaver.
"A contractor is expected to be under contract by the end of July. Soon after that, we can expect to see some activity on the property," Weaver said.
The new center will eventually create more than 500 jobs, but Weaver said that applications for those jobs are not yet being accepted.
Weaver said that once a decision is made by the company to begin accepting applications, media organizations will be contacted to inform the public when and where those applications will be available.
Starke County and the SCDF also purchased 24 acres of land, which will be used for infrastructure improvements.
State agencies, Starke County and the SCDF will provide that infrastructure, which includes road improvements, a rail spur, and water and sewer extensions.
The infrastructure will be funded with grants from the Indiana Economic Development Corporation's Development Grant Fund; the Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs Economic Development Block Grant Program; the U.S. Department of Commerce Economic Development Commission Grant Fund; tax increment financing bonds; and the Starke County Economic Development Income Tax (EDIT).
When construction is finished, the town of Hamlet will assume ownership and operation of the water and sewer systems.
The Hamlet RDC is the third site of several facilities planned throughout the U.S. as part of SYSCO's "Supply Chain Initiative."
The first RDC, which began shipping products in February, 2005, is located in Front Royal, Va. That center services 14 of SYSCO's broadline distribution companies in the Northeast.
SYSCO's second RDC, in Alachua, Fla., is under construction, and is expected to supply broadline operations in the Southeast Region.
For the calendar year 2006, parent company SYSCO generated $33.9 billion in sales.
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