THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, September 14, 1994 TAG: 9409140458
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MYLENE MANGALINDAN, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 68 lines
A subsidiary of CSX Corp. has purchased 64 acres of land in Chesapeake to build a distribution and transportation center for Ford trucks manufactured at the Norfolk assembly plant.
Jacksonville, Fla.-based Total Distribution Services Inc. paid more than $2 million for the land, which runs parallel to Interstate 264 in Bowers Hill near the Chesapeake and Portsmouth border. TDSI is a subsidiary of CSX Transportation Inc., also located in Jacksonville. Parent company CSX Corp. is a diversified railroad and transportation holding company based in Richmond.
The Bowers Hill site will be used to station and to load F-series trucks from Ford Motor Corp.'s Norfolk assembly plant to railroad cars. The light trucks will be moved to various distribution and sales sites across the country by rail. Trans Development, a Portland-based company, is handling the construction and development of the site.
``It's being developed in conjunction with the Ford plant,'' said Chester McClain, Chesapeake zoning administrator. ``Trucks are loaded and unloaded from vehicle to rail transport. It's an intermodal facility,'' which integrates different forms of transportation.
Moving trucks by trailer andthen rail would facilitate greater distribution reach of Ford vehicles and might replace some transportation of those vehicles by tractor-trailers.
The project appears to be a joint venture between CSX Corp. and Ford, although neither company is directly involved in the purchase or development of the site. CSX and TDSI officials could not be reached for comment. CSX already handles railroad distribution for trucks out of the Norfolk plant.
Barbara Mansfield, a spokeswoman for the automaker, was not aware of Ford's involvement in the site, but ``we're always looking for ways to ship our product,'' she said.
The Norfolk plant, which employs 1,802 people, expanded last year to incorporate a new paint facility. It produces 645 trucks each day. The plant built 153,915 trucks in 1993, up 28 percent from 1992.
TDSI purchased the 64 acres from three different owners. Levine, who developed Ahoy Acres, a housing subdivision in Portsmouth a few miles away, sold 42 tree-covered acres for $1.5 million. TDSI also bought 10 acres for $450,000 from the McLean estate and 12 acres at $420,000 from the Treadaway family, he said.
Construction on the site began in mid-August, even before TDSI finalized the land sale.
``They want to bring this thing on-line as soon as possible,'' said Warren Harris at the Chesapeake economic development department.
An executive at Henry S. Branscome Inc., the local construction company developing the project, described the work as ``fast-track.'' Plans are still being finalized but the Suffolk construction firm plans to finish work this year.
The truck distribution center will resemble a Norfolk Southern Corp. facility in Petersburg, said an employee at Henry S. Branscome, Inc. TDSI plans to have an uncovered facility with few structures. A guard house will be built on the property.
Trans Development submitted paperwork for construction but the Chesapeake planning department is still reviewing its site plans. Preliminary ground-clearing work began last month. ILLUSTRATION: Map
KEN WRIGHT/Staff
by CNB