FedEx Ground received an Oregon Brownfield Award for the work done in transforming a former brownfield site in Troutdale, Ore., into a $129 million state-of-the-art package sortation hub set to open in late summer.


The third annual award was presented on April 6 at the 2010 Oregon Brownfields Conference sponsored by Business Oregon and the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality.

The new FedEx Ground hub is located on 78 acres within the Port of Portland's 693-acre Troutdale Reynolds Industrial Park that was once the home of a Reynolds Metals aluminum smelter.

"We view the new Troutdale hub as a win-win for us and the community at large because a site that was unproductive for years will soon be home to a 400,000 square foot, state-of-the art operation," said John Hiltz, vice president of the western region for FedEx Ground.

FedEx Ground faced several construction challenges in developing a property with prior contamination, including building the facility above grade on a network of 1,700 piles driven 65 feet into the ground. FedEx also pressure tested the stormwater system to ensure structural integrity and conformance with an existing ground water remediation system. The company worked closely with the Port of Portland, the city of Troutdale, Oregon Department of Environmental Quality, and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The hub, which is in the final stages of construction, is scheduled to open in August and is expected to eventually have a workforce of more than 1,000 part-time and full-time employees as well as independent contractors and their employees.