U.S. FedEx signs airport lease, UPS on the way
FedEx Corp. should be starting work on its new package-sorting center near Charlotte County Airport within the next four to six weeks — and UPS won’t be far behind in expanding its airport facility.
Last week, a developer working for FedEx signed a ground lease with the airport for 4.8 acres on Golf Course Boulevard, according to Gary Quill, airport executive director. FedEx then immediately signed a lease for the 35,000-square-foot building with the developer, Orlando-based Regional Development.
FedEx spokesman, Jim McCluskey, confirmed the deal. He explained that the new building will be a sorting facility that will accept FedEx Express ground shipments from other places and route them to their local destinations.
Despite the proximity of an airfield that’s handled jet fighters, FedEx has no immediate plans to fly air freight directly into Punta Gorda, McCluskey said. Most local FedEx shipments fly into Fort Myers and are trucked to the Punta Gorda facility.
The facility will handle strictly FedEx Express, the company’s familiar overnight service, famous everywhere with its blue-and-red logo, McCluskey said. However, it will not handle FedEx Ground shipments, a slightly slower service that FedEx offers mainly for business-to-business delivery. FedEx Ground trucks bear the company logo in blue-and-green.
In a related development, UPS has asked the Charlotte County Airport Authority to increase its ground lease on Challenger Boulevard from 2.9 to 6.5 acres for a major expansion of the distribution center it currently operates on the site.
Don Lee, District 2 airport commissioner, said UPS’s request will be discussed at Thursday’s regular Airport Authority meeting. He anticipated no objections — indeed, UPS’s expansion has been anticipated for some time, although it’s been running on a little slower track than the FedEx deal.
“There’s a lot more going on here at the airport than people realize,” Lee said.
Quill said both companies will be charged the going lease rate of 25 cents a square foot. This works out to about USD10,900 an acre, which means that the FedEx deal will fatten the airport’s coffers by about USD52,000 a year. The value of the UPS deal will be in excess of USD70,000 a year.
The leases will be for 30 years with up to three 10-year renewal options, Quill said.
McCluskey said that FedEx expects a quick construction project, with a projected opening in April.
Quill said that UPS officials have told him the company will probably will probably start construction in January and open its expanded facility late in 2007.
The Airport Authority commissioners voted unanimously in February to lease land to FedEx. The following months have been taken up with site plan review and other regulatory issues.
FedEx and the Airport Authority still have to go before the Charlotte County Development Review Committee on Oct. 5 for final plan approval. 332
