FedEx broke ground on its new $56 million facility View Full Caption FedEx

LONG ISLAND CITY — FedEx has just broken ground on its new $56 million distribution center on Borden Avenue in Long Island City, which it hopes will bring 80 new jobs to the neighborhood and pave the way for other large industrial businesses to move there, company officials said.

The new 140,000 square-foot automated distribution center will replace the company's smaller and older facility in Maspeth and is scheduled to open in August 2013.

The Queens small-package ground delivery unit will now be conveniently located close to the Long Island Expressway and the Midtown Tunnel.

“We chose this Long Island City site because it offers easy access to local highways, is close to customers and has a large population from which to recruit future employees,” said Sean O’Connor, FedEx Ground Vice President for Eastern Region.

There will be 80 new hires while 120 employees will be moving from the current FedEx facility.

FedEx Ground is moving to the same block that Fresh Direct, online grocer, will be leaving in 2015 in order to move to its new facility in The Bronx.

But Dan Miner, senior vice president at Long Island City Partnership, said he was sure that more companies would follow in FedEx footsteps.

“It confirms that the Borden Avenue area is seen as a desirable location for large industrial companies,” he said.