NEW YORK CITY-FedEx Ground will close its Maspeth distribution center and move to a new 140,000-square-foot facility in Long Island City by spring 2013, company officials told the New York Daily News. The plant, estimated to cost $56 million, will be located on Borden Avenue—the very same block FreshDirect decided to vacate for space at Harlem River Yards in the Bronx.

The move is being driven by the company’s decision to expand its business-to-business shipping operations on a nationwide basis, a FedEx spokesman told the News. In addition, access to major highways, bridges, tunnels and customer distribution centers also played a role in the relocation from central Queens to the borough’s Northern end.

Sources told the News that the project will developed by Charlotte-based SunCap Property Group LLC, which will own the property in a partnership with Manhattan-based REIT Lexington Realty Trust. Ronkonkoma, NY-based Aurora Contractors will build the facility.