A leading health care supplies manufacturer and distributor held a blessing ceremony Friday for its 100,000-square-foot distribution warehouse at Kapolei Business Park.
Medline Industries Inc., which operates two smaller locations in Waipahu and Kapolei, expects the $21 million project to help expand its services statewide and draw more employees from the Kapolei workforce.
The company earlier this month broke ground on the property, which is three times larger than Medline’s existing Oahu locations. It plans to consolidate all of its space at the new Kapolei lot on Lauwiliwili Street and expects to finish construction by April, with the facility up and running in August or September 2017.
The warehouse will house storage and office space, a conference room and employee amenities such as an outdoor pavilion and cafe. Medline plans to employ more than 50 workers at the new facility.
“We know sometimes it’s difficult to transport things here (Hawaii). This is going to give us an opportunity to save more lives,” said Efrem Hawkins, Medline’s senior director of operations. He said Medline’s team has made a commitment to do more business in Hawaii and that they have been meeting and speaking with community members and officials about their plans.
Medline, based in Illinois, provides more than 350,000 health care products nationwide to hospitals, care facilities, surgical centers, physicians’ offices and retail outlets. The company first started its Oahu operations in 2004 and acquired the Kapolei lot in February. Avalon Development Co. LLC, developer of the business park, is managing the project.
Dmitry Dukhan, vice president of real estate at Medline, said in a statement that “this facility represents our next step in expanding our capabilities in Hawaii and with this, more career opportunities for the people of Kapolei.”
