United Supermarkets to build logistics center in Alliance

United Supermarkets announced Oct. 15 it has purchased 15 acres in the Roanoke section of the Alliance Global Logistics Hub to build a 200,000-square-foot logistics center.

The logistics building will be operated by Exel, the logistics company that operates United’s distribution center at Llano Logistics in Lubbock and will serve as the second United Supermarkets distribution center.

The facility will be located on Freedom Drive in Roanoke, just north of Fort Worth, with site preparation work expected to begin by mid-November and a completion date of Sept. 1, 2010. The location will employ about 75 workers, all Exel employees.

Alliance Global Logistics Hub is part of the 17,000-acre AllianceTexas project developed by Hillwood in north Fort Worth.

In a release, Robert Taylor, vice president of logistics for United Supermarkets LLC, said the company has also provisions in place for “future expansion of the new facility if necessitated by company growth.”

“Having a second facility in the Metroplex also will provide additional room for us at our Lubbock D.C., which has been operating at maximum capacity for awhile now,” Taylor said in the release.

United currently operates six stores in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, four of which opened within a 14-month span last April.

Taylor said 100 percent of United’s frozen food, 90 percent of its produce and 75 percent of its dry grocery items will originate from the D/FW distribution center.

United was represented by Dan Cook of Cushman & Wakefield. Tony Crème, vice president of Hillwood Properties, the developer of the Alliance Global Logistics Hub, represented Hillwood.