May 28--For more than 11 years, the Triad has waited for an economic shot-in-the-arm from the FedEx Corp. hub at Piedmont Triad International Airport.

Delays -- whether environmental, legal or economic -- have combined to push the start of overnight-sorting operations from June 2003 to this September, although FedEx officials are not guaranteeing that timetable.

There are, however, signs of operational life within the $300 million hub.

This Monday, FedEx expects to finish the transfer of existing ramp operations and 160 full- and part-time employees to the hub. FedEx operates about 65 weekly flights at the airport.

Part of the hub's utility is attracting companies -- such as those in the publishing, pharmaceutical, software and apparel sectors -- which will want to be nearby an overnight shipper. And some economists have said that the delays could have significant ripple effects in the Triad economy and commercial real-estate markets.

However, Dan Lynch, the president of the Greensboro Economic Development Alliance, said that the hub-opening delay of a few months isn't affecting decisions on moving as much as the economy.

"We continue to deliver the message that the hub is constructed, sort equipment has been installed and is being tested, and the company will gradually ramp up hub operations as their market and the global economy improves," Lynch said.

Robert Leak Jr., the president of Winston-Salem Business Inc., said that the recession has slowed down most companies' expansion plans.

"I believe that even if FedEx had fully ramped up the Triad hub, we would still have experienced a slow growth of companies moving to the area," Leak said.

The entire FedEx project is expected to cost about $500 million. That includes the $130 million it cost to build a third runway. The Federal Aviation Administration paid 90 percent of that cost.

The company has received commitments for $142.3 million in state incentives over 20 years -- at that time the largest amount ever offered.

Jim McCluskey, a company spokesman, said that the economy will play a major role in how quickly FedEx ramps up operations.

"We remain strongly committed to the Triad communities and believe our plan to open the sorting hub in the fall is positive, given economic times when companies are cutting back," McCluskey said.

"We're not immune from what's occurring in the economy, but we believe we're in a better situation than many businesses because goods still have to be moved," he said.

When overnight-sorting operations do begin at PTI, FedEx is likely to have at least 50 percent fewer full- and part-time employees than it had pledged since committing to the 425,000-square-foot hub in April 1998.

McCluskey said that FedEx plans to hire up to 200 employees for the initial phase of the overnight-sorting operation for an overall work force of about 360, including employees moving in next week.

Part of the local appeal for the FedEx project was that the company had been saying for years that it would have 750 employees when it began overnight-sorting operations. The projections were for 225 full-time positions and 525 part-time jobs.

FedEx also had said that it would hire up to 1,500 full- and part-time employees when the hub was fully operational. McCluskey said that the economy will play a major role in its hiring plans for 2009-10.

Another selling point of the project was the potential for counties within an hour's drive of PTI benefiting from businesses not wanting to pay higher commercial real-estate prices to be near the hub.

"We do know that a number of companies, whose representatives cited the FedEx hub as a factor in their site-location decision, chose to locate in the Piedmont Triad even before the hub was completed -- some years before," said Don Kirkman, the president of the Piedmont Triad Partnership.

Richard Craver can be reached at 727-7376 or at rcraver@wsjournal.com.

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