The 700,000-sq.-ft. facility is expected to employ some 500 people, they said.
Sysco's affiliate, Baugh Midwest Cooperative, purchased 320 acres for its RDC and the Starke County Development Foundation purchased 24 acres to construct infrastructure. Onsite construction is expected to begin this summer and should require approximately 12-18 months to complete.
The operation will include freezer, refrigeration and dry storage, office space and a truck maintenance facility. Once the RDC is operational, it will begin supplying products to Sysco's operating companies in the Midwest.
Starke County and the Starke County Development Foundation will provide infrastructure including roadway improvements, rail-spur, and water and sewer extensions, by using grants from the Indiana Economic Development Corporation Development Grant Fund, the Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs Economic Development Block Grant Program, the US Department of Commerce Economic Development Commission Grant Fund, Tax Incremental Financing Bonds and County Economic Development Income Tax to fund the infrastructure. Following construction, the water and sewer improvements will be owned and operated by the Town of Hamlet.
The RDC is the third site location of several facilities planned throughout the United States as part of Sysco's Supply Chain Initiative. The first RDC, which began shipping products in February 2005, is located in Front Royal, VA, and services 14 of the company's broadline distribution companies in the Northeast Region. The second RDC in Alachua, FL, which is currently under construction, is expected to supply broadline operations in the Southeast Region.
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