United Parcel Service Inc. is continuing work on its $196 million West Jacksonville package-delivery hub expansion, seeking a permit for installation of a $15 million conveyor system.
Vanderlande Industries Inc. of Marietta, Georgia, is the contractor for the conveyor project.
UPS has been expanding its hub at 4420 Imeson Road in Westside Industrial Park, at northwest Interstate 295 and Pritchard Road.
The UPS center was developed in 1989 and it is almost doubling its size to more than 900,000 square feet of space. The city has been issuing permits for project.
In November 2016, Atlanta-based UPS said the Westside facility would be expanded and retrofitted with advanced technology and operations automation.
UPS Media Relations Manager Kim Krebs said June 2 the first major phase of the hub expansion is on track for completion late in the third quarter and full completion in 2022.
The Jacksonville hub expansion is part of the company’s multiyear capital investment program “to renovate facilities with higher levels of automation, acquire new aircraft and ground fleet vehicles, and enhance information technology platforms,” she said.
The city approved legislation in November 2016 that specified the expansion would include $150 million in equipment, furniture and fixtures.
The incentives call for $4.3 million of city funding through a Recapture Enhanced Value grant.
UPS told the city in 2016 that more than 1,650 full- and part-time UPS employees work at the hub and its four adjacent package centers.
It said it would invest $196 million to expand its Jacksonville ground package hub in the wake of City Council approval to provide incentives for it.
As that hub is being expanded, UPS has retrofitted a 400,000-square-foot warehouse not far away in Westlake Industrial Park to handle additional package processing.
Krebs said that is a “relief hub” for package sortation and distribution while the Westside Industrial Park facility construction continues.
In addition to that, UPS landed permits in August to create a distribution facility in Southside, where UPS anticipates a $50 million investment comprising $5 million for real estate improvements and $45 million for machinery, equipment, furniture and fixtures.
Krebs said that facility is scheduled to come online in October.
Haskew Company & Associates is the contractor for the $2.7 million project to renovate 244,000 square feet and build a mezzanine foundation at 9431 Florida Mining Blvd. E.
Material Handling Systems Inc. is the contractor for the almost $30.7 million installation of conveyors for the parcel shipping ground hub.
For that project, Council adopted legislation to pay up to $52,200 as its part of a $261,000 Qualified Target Industry Tax Refund. The state pays the rest.
UPS proposes to hire 87 employees at an average annual salary of $57,540 by year-end 2022.
Krebs said job seekers can check available positions at upsjobs.com and search by location.