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KERNERSVILLE — A potentially significant job generator for the Triad has opened quietly in Kernersville.

A FedEx Ground official said Wednesday that the company’s distribution hub in Triad Business Park off West Market Street in Guilford County began operations earlier in the year, but he could not provide a specific date.

“We are now up and running and going as planned,” said spokesman David Westrick. “We’ve been doing a phased opening. Portions have been operating all summer.”

Another spokesman said the company will hold a grand opening celebration Oct. 12. The event will include a ribboncutting and an appearance by NASCAR star Denny Hamlin, driver of the No. 11 FedEx Toyota.

Company officials could not provide updated employment numbers on Wednesday.

But last year, the company said the 415,000-square-foot “super hub” could boast 1,200 to 1,400 full- and part-time workers by 2020 or 2021.

At that time, the company said the $110 million operation would open with 750 to 800 employees. Of those, 270 would be new positions. The rest would be transferred from two existing operations in Winston-Salem.

Company executives told Kernersville officials that starting pay would be about $18 an hour.

FedEx Ground, an operating company of Fed­Ex Corp., announced in November 2008 that it would build a hub in Kernersville.

That came after the Guilford County Board of Commissioners voted 9-2 in July 2008 to approve a $952,000, three-year incentive package.

The company said it selected Kernersville because of its access to major highways, proximity to customers and a strong labor pool.

FedEx Corp. also has a FedEx Express hub at Piedmont Triad International Airport.

“It is extremely positive,” Dan Lynch, president of the Greensboro Economic Development Alliance, said of the Fed­Ex Ground operation. “We are one of the few communities in the country that has a FedEx Express hub, a FedEx Ground hub and a UPS hub.”

Kernersville’s community development director, Jeff Hatling, said the initial tax value of the new building and its equipment would be $80 million a year.

Hatling called the operation “a major boost for our job base and our tax base.”

He said the hub began operations with no fanfare. “They just started up one day,” Hatling said. “Days after the final inspection, they started running. There was no announcement.”

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