By John Reed Staff Writer
KNOX — Starke County received an “early Christmas present” Monday with the announcement that work will begin immediately to develop the site for the new Sysco project south of U.S. 30 on U.S. 35.
Officially, the project is Sysco’s Baugh North Central Cooperative facility and is expected to create at least 500 jobs. The announcement comes at a time when many industries across the region are announcing layoffs, although actual jobs at Sysco will not be available for at least a year and a half.

Charles Weaver, executive director of the Starke County Develop-ment Foundation, informed Starke County Commissioners Monday that, at its November Board of Directors meeting, Sysco Corporation authorized the construction of the Baugh North Central Cooper-ative Redistribution Center.
Commissioners then directed that the bidding process begin immediately to construct the public infrastructure in Hamlet.
That bidding process was halted earlier this year when no word came of the impending construction and even commissioners began to think the project would never be built.
Weaver thanked Sysco Corpor-ation for its confidence in selecting Starke County and beginning the construction.
Weaver, in acknowledging the cooperation among all Starke County entities, told the commissioners, “Starke County’s early Christmas present was due to the joint efforts of the Starke County Development Foundation, the County Commissioners, County Council, Hamlet Town Board, Starke County Planning Commission, and the Starke County Redevelopment Commission in partnership with the Indiana Economic Development Corporation, IEDC's Barkley Garrett and the United States Department of Commerce, Economic Development Administration.”
The public infrastructure consists of a new 200,000 gallon water tower, new well field, water treatment facility and water mains connecting the Sysco site to the town of Hamlet’s water system; extension of a sewer main to Hamlet’s waste water treatment facility; and construction of a roadway entrance onto the Sysco site from U.S. 35.
Starke County and the Starke County Development Foundation will provide infrastructure including roadway improvements and water and sewer extensions by using grants from the Indiana Economic Development Corporation’s Industrial Development grant fund, the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration grant fund, the Starke County Economic Development Fund and the issuance of tax incremental financing bonds to build the infrastructure. Following construction, the water and sewer improvements will be transferred to, and operated by, the town of Hamlet.
Sysco previously purchased 320 acres for the Baugh North Central Cooperative site.
Also, the Starke County Development Foundation previously purchased 24 acres of land to construct the infrastructure.
The facility, originally named Baugh Midwest Cooperative Redistribution Center, was renamed Baugh North Central Cooperative Redistribution Center when Sysco Corporation re-aligned the regions of its broadline distribution companies in 2007.
The Hamlet facility is expected to initially service broadline distribution companies in the states of North Dakota, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Missouri, Tennessee, Kentucky, Indiana, Michigan and Ohio. More simply put, the facility is a warehouse serving other warehouses.
The construction of the public infrastructure will commence when weather permits in early 2009. The Sysco Corporation on-site construction is expected to begin after completion of its design and bidding process, possibly as early as July of 2009. Construction of both the public infrastructure and the Baugh North Central Cooperative facility will take almost 18 months to complete.
The approximate 700,000-square-foot operation is expected to create approximately 500 new jobs and will include freezer, refrigeration, and dry storage, office space, and a truck maintenance facility. Rail spurs will extend into the building.
Hamlet is the third site location of several facilities planned throughout the United States as part of Sysco’s Supply Chain Initiative. The first Re-Distribution Center (RDC) began shipping products in February, 2005, from Front Royal, Va. It services 14 of Sysco’s broadline distribution companies in the Northeast Region. Sysco’s second RDC in Alachua, Fla., services six broadline distribution companies in the South Region.
Sysco is the global leader in selling, marketing and distributing food products to restaurants, healthcare and educational facilities, lodging establishments and other customers who prepare meals away from home.
For more information about Sysco, visit www.Sysco.com.