Construction continued this summer on a new 54,000-square-foot FedEx Ground sorting and distribution facility being built in the Brainerd Industrial Park.
The expansion is located south of the intersection of County State Aid Highway 45 and County Road 117 on 45, across from Thiesse Drive. Motorists driving east on County Road 117, also known as Thiesse Road, can see the construction to their north behind Lexington Manufacturing.
The Brainerd City Council first learned of the company's interest last October and the sale of 9 acres of land was finalized in May. Nate Grotzke of Close-Converse, who represented the city in the sale, said the property was sold to Ruedebusch Development and Construction of Madison, Wis. Ruedebusch Development and Construction builds facilities and leases them to FedEx.
The $521,560 sale represents the first lots sold in the industrial park's 2007 expansion. In 2009, Brainerd received a "shovel-ready" certification for the available lots in the park from the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development. That designation, spearheaded by the Brainerd Lakes Area Economic Development Corporation, helped to attract the company to Brainerd, Sheila Haverkamp, BLAEDC executive director, told the council in May.
This month, Haverkamp noted the two larger commercial construction projects in the works-FedEx in Brainerd and Avantech, formerly known as Lakeland Mold Co., in Baxter, along with the jobs they provide-stand out after the long recession.
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Plans call for construction on the FedEx facility to be completed by the fall. Construction companies working on site include Strack Construction Co. in Sartell, Hy-Tec Construction in Brainerd and DeChantel Excavating LLC of Brainerd.
