2009.01.07
FedEx closing and expanding
The New River Valley may be getting 60 new jobs.
FedEx announced this morning (Jan. 7) that it is closing its Radford facility and building a new, larger operation in Pulaski County. Basil Edwards, Radford's director of economic development, said the city worked with FedEx last spring and summer, but they couldn't keep the company in the city's industrial park.
"We just couldn't make it work," Edwards said. "They needed a minimum of seven acres. They wanted to stay up there, but it just didn't work out."
Edwards said he's not sure how much the move will affect employment in the city, since he doesn't know how many FedEx employees live in Radford. But the company is leasing the building. "We will need to find another use for that facility," Edwards said.
Across the New River in Pulaski County, FedEx plans to build a 37,000 square foot, $4 million facility about three miles from Interstate 81's exit 98. The company says it expects to hire 60 employees and independent contractors in addition to the 50 the will transfer from the Radford operation.
-- Tim Thornton
