A $50 million capital program at Avondale Global Gateway will add warehouse, rail, and dock capacity to the Mississippi River industrial campus in Jefferson Parish, La.
T. Parker Host, Avondale, La., plans to build a 200,000-sq.-ft. warehouse, activate Avondale’s fifth deepwater dock and expand rail, road, and laydown infrastructure at the site. Work is already underway, with the current program scheduled for completion by December 2027.
The new warehouse will bring Avondale to approximately 1.5 million sq. ft. of indoor storage and will be the first new building constructed at the campus since the 1970s.
Activating the fifth deepwater dock will increase Avondale’s capacity to handle as many as six vessels simultaneously.
HOST is allocating approximately $15 million each to rail infrastructure and the warehouse, along with $5 million each for dock improvements, road infrastructure, expanded site and laydown capacity, and equipment.
“We’re building Avondale for what comes next,” said Adam Anderson, chairman and CEO of T. Parker Host. “When a company looks at Louisiana for its next major investment, we want the infrastructure to already be here.”
The rail portion of the project is receiving $6.95 million in state and local support. Louisiana Economic Development will provide a $2.6 million interest-free loan through its FastSites Program, while the Louisiana Legislature has approved $3.1 million in capital funding. Jefferson Parish has committed another $1.25 million.
HOST said the overall investment is expected to support approximately 100 additional company jobs, increasing its Avondale workforce to more than 400. The company expects about 1,000 people to be working across the broader campus each day by 2028 as infrastructure and tenant projects advance.
Avondale handles more than 75 commodities and has Class I rail and road connections in addition to its Mississippi River docks.
The terminal has also been expanding its role in industrial supply chains. HOST said Avondale is the largest copper import terminal in North America and recently received the first significant shipment of Venezuelan primary aluminum to the United States in more than eight years.
The company has also entered a long-term agreement with a major energy equipment manufacturer, though it did not identify the customer.
HOST said the additional infrastructure is intended to accommodate existing customers while creating space for companies to establish longer-term processing, manufacturing, and other industrial operations at the campus.
