Home Depot Breaks Ground for 760,000 SF Distribution Center

The Hudson Valley region has become a mecca for large retail distribution facilities. The latest entrant into the marketplace is Home Depot, the national home improvement chain, which broke ground on Tuesday, Aug. 8 on its 760,000 sf distribution facility.

Home Depot executives, along with state and local government officials, were on hand for the groundbreaking ceremony on a project that is reportedly worth more than $30 million and will create more than 200 jobs when completed in early 2001.

Several large distribution facilities have recently found a home in the area including The Gap (more than one million sf) in Dutchess County and Kohl’s retail store chain, whose planned 500,000 sf distribution center project in Chester is being held up by environmental problems.

Drex Crowell, vice president of Home Depot’s Distribution Services, says of the project, “We evaluated many sites before deciding to build our Import Distribution Center in Montgomery. The location was chosen because of the proximity to the growing number of Home Depot stores in the New England Division and the potential job applicant pool. Additionally, the transportation infrastructure in the Orange County area made it ideal.”

The company’s International Distribution Center receives and stores merchandise from vendors and manufacturers worldwide. Stores order products that customers want from the center, which ships them to outlets in New York, Connecticut, Vermont, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Maine.

Home Depot, headquartered in Atlanta, GA, operates 1,011 stores in 45 states, the five Canadian provinces, as well as in Puerto Rico and Chile. In July, the company opened a new location in Harriman in Orange County.