KANSAS CITY—CVS Pharmacy has just decided to build a 762,000-square-foot distribution center at Kansas City's Skyport Industrial Park, according to the Kansas City Area Development Council. The pharmacy giant says the new distribution center will create more than 360 new jobs, and up to another 100 outsourced to local businesses.

“It's a tremendous statement by CVS on what Kansas City, from a logistics standpoint, can do for them,” Tim Cowden, KCADC president and chief executive officer, tells GlobeSt.com. In addition to gaining access to world-class infrastructure, the company will “be able to reach a majority of their customer base in the Midwest region.”

Kansas City's centralized location has helped attract many of the nation's largest distributors in the past few years. As reported in GlobeSt.com, in July Amazon agreed to entirely occupy an 822,000-square-foot facility built by NorthPoint Development at Logistics Park Kansas City in the KS suburb of Edgerton, the largest spec building ever completed in the metro area.

Developers have created, on a speculative basis, more than six million square feet of class A distribution space in and around Kansas City in the past few years, Cowden adds. “You've got to have that spec space on the shelf and ready to go in order to attract companies in the first place.” And when other distributors see firms like Amazon set down roots, it tells them that “this is a viable place to establish operations.”

CVS expects to break ground on the 32' clear facility, located on 71 acres at 108^th St. and N. Congress near Kansas City International Airport and I-29, in January. The company will begin operations there in 2018 and service more than 370 CVS Pharmacy stores throughout the Midwest.

“As a result of our new Midwest distribution center, our delivery drivers will drive hundreds of thousands fewer miles each year to deliver product to our stores, significantly reducing carbon emissions and improving highway safety,” says Kevin Hourican, executive vice president, pharmacy services and supply chain, CVS Health.

At the start of the recession, Cowden says, Kansas City in general did not have these types of facilities. Today, however, “it's emerging as a powerhouse for Tier 1 distributors.”

Instant Insights /

Kansas City Attracts New CVS Pharmacy Distribution Center

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