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FedEx Ground officials and Guilford County dignitaries will gather at Triad Business Park in Kernersville today to break ground for the company's $100 million distribution hub.

The 10 a.m. ceremony marks the culmination of a 22-month courtship that initially will bring about 300 new jobs to the Triad.

Over time, the company said, that figure could jump by another 460.

"When it seems like we are receiving bad news on almost a daily basis, this shows that this area has a lot of promise for an upswing at some point," said Kirk Perkins, chairman of the Guilford County Board of Commissioners, who will attend the ceremony. "The two things that we need ... right now are jobs and tax base. This project brings both."

When the 400,000-square-foot center opens in 2011 it will employ about 500 people in full- and part-time jobs, of which 150 will be new positions.

The company said the other jobs will be consolidated from two existing FedEx properties in Winston-Salem.

But the operation also will include 250 independent contractor/drivers, of which about 150 will be new positions.

About 2015, the company projects that it will add about 260 full- and part-time workers, plus about 200 independent drivers.

Ultimately, the operation could employ more than 900 people, including drivers.

A company spokesman could not immediately provide wage information.

The Kernersville site, 125 acres at Old Greensboro Road and Market Street, will be FedEx Ground's second hub in North Carolina.

The company owns another such center in Charlotte.

The Pittsburgh-based company, which operates 30 hubs in the United States, embarked on a multiyear expansion in 2002.

"Enhancing our distribution capability in the Southeast is an important step in our ongoing efforts to increase the size, speed and efficiency of our network," John C. Payne, a FedEx Ground official, said in a statement.

"This new facility will be evidence of the Southeast region's growing presence in the distribution and logistics business."

The Kernersville site beat out ones in Greenville, S.C., and Murfreesboro, Tenn.

In mid-July, the commissioners voted 9-2 to approve an incentive package of $952,500 over three years if the company would locate here.

County officials have believed for some time that they would land the new hub, but were never willing to say so publicly, even after FedEx Ground bought the land last month.

"I think this is huge, given what is going on globally right now," said Dan Lynch, president of the Greensboro Economic Development Alliance. "I think that we are extremely fortunate that they are making this announcement today."

Construction will begin next spring.

Contact Donald W. Patterson at 373-7027 or don.patterson@news-record.com