$200M Huntsville Logistics Center breaks ground

HUNTSVILLE — Hoops were jumped and ground was broken for a  $200 million, 2 million square-foot Huntsville Logistics Center.

Buffered to the west by Gunter’s Way, a new roadway connecting Alabama 20 to old Highway 20, and to the east by County Line Road in Madison, the J.H. Berry & Gilbert industrial team and a handful of guests gathered Wednesday to break ground for the massive facility.

Lying on 132 acres in the shadow of the sprawling Amazon and Buffalo Rock plants in annexed Limestone County with immediate access to I-65 and the Huntsville International Airport, the first phase of the new logistics center will raise two warehouse buildings with more than 1 million square feet of modern bulk distribution. It is expected to be completed early next year.

“Flint development is leading this project, investing a substantial amount of private capital, over $100 million will be spent in the first phase of this project,” said Edwin Moss, executive vice president and shareholder with J.H. Berry & Gilbert. “It is an exciting day for us to be here on this piece of land and we want to give special thanks to the Rogers Group for getting us this piece of equipment that in the next few days will put on a show moving a lot of dirt.”

Cooper Construction will “lead the charge” on the ground, he said.

Moss said they worked with Flint Development over the past two years on the Buffalo Rock project, which can be seen alongside the sprawling Amazon plant in the distance.

J.H. Berry & Gilbert, he said, worked in partnership with the City of Huntsville to acquire the site, which with great foresight, led to the development of Gunter’s Way.

“The City of Huntsville has done a tremendous job having a vision for the infrastructure needed for real growth, and that’s what brings us here today,” Moss said. “It’s exciting we will soon be seeing some nice buildings going up here in the background.”

The buildings he said will have ceiling heights of 40 feet cleared and will look very similar to the Amazon building.

“We expect this project to bring over 700 jobs to the area, not to include 450 jobs that will be part of the construction built by private trades,” he said.

Moss explained that when you buy a piece of land, it takes a long time to go through entitlement processes.

“Even with a partner like the City of Huntsville that is pro-development, pro-business, they did everything they could to make things work,” he said. “There are still a lot of hoops to jump through and the civil work team has done a tremendous job of not only building Gunter’s Way, but for having a vision to let it come together.”

Richard Bigoney, membership account executive at the Huntsville/Madison County Chamber, pointed out the benefits of having a logistics center so close to the airport and interstate.

“We are trying to attract more advance manufacturing and more industrial, which is why our economy is booming,” he said. “You picked a great piece of property on which to develop the Huntsville Logistics Center.”