Officials who worked hard to bring FedEx to town got a first look at the massive construction project going on just north of U.S. 27 and east of I-75 Friday.

“People keep driving by and asking all the time what’s that building going up?" Mayor Kent Guinn said. "It’s FedEx they are coming to town.”

Friday FedEx executives were in Ocala to show off the progress they are making on 150-acre worksite.

Bulldozers are still clearing land for the miles of roadway that trucks will use to deliver packages, while other construction crews are working to put the beams in place for the company’s hub which will serve North Central Florida.

“It’s going to be 400,000 square feet and we are going to employ 350 people,” said Bob Holcombe, FedEx Southern Division VP.

FedEx will hold hiring fairs next year in advance of opening. They say the 350 jobs will include package handlers, managers and maintenance technicians.

It’s the company’s 34th ground transportation hub. Holcombe said with package loads doubling the past decade, FedEx started a $3 billion effort to get packages to customers faster.

Once the hub and build out are completed, the facility will have the capacity to process 45,000 packages an hour.

“You are talking about a $170 million investment by the company and then on top of that the jobs that are going to be created, it’s a huge economic impact,” Marion County Commission Chairman Stan McClain said.

Ocala’s mayor said the effort to land FedEx started a few years ago when the city beat out 10 other Florida communities to get an enterprise zone distinction, which allows governments to offer businesses additional tax credits.

 “If you are choosing between one site and the other and we’ve got one and someone else doesn’t then we are the obvious choice,” Mayor Guinn said.

 “Really all the local people collaborated with us to make it happen. We have a number of choices where to put our locations and this was just a perfect match,” Holcombe said.

That collaboration was spelled out Friday, as community members got a chance to sign an I-beam that will be used in the hub’s construction. The company plans to keep the beam visible when their operations begin in the summer of 2016.