Type: Industrial Size: 276,431 square feet Developer: Scannell Properties Contractor: Ryan Cos.

Details: New details about a proposed 276,431-square-foot FedEx SmartPost distribution facility in Maple Grove were unveiled this week as the project received development-stage approval from the city's planning commission.

Announced earlier this month, the new package-­handling facility from Scannell Properties, an Indianapolis-based developer that has done other projects for FedEx, will replace a smaller distribution center in Brooklyn Park, transferring nearly 300 jobs from the current center.

Scheduled to open in 2014, plans from builder Ryan Cos. indicate that the single-story building will have 103 dock doors and feature an exterior finish consisting mostly of insulated pre-cast concrete panels with raked and textured finish and accent colors.

City planners were especially pleased with its landscaping plans, which include about 170 tall trees, mostly evergreens, that will screen the building from view along Revere Lane. The 38-acre site will also be landscaped with smaller trees, shrubs and perennials.

Scannell Properties Development Manager Tim Elam told the commission the facility will operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and will handle 125 truck trips per day.

The plans now go before the Maple Grove City Council for consideration at its Monday meeting.

Don Jacobson is a freelance writer in St. Paul. He can be contacted at hotproperty.startribune@gmail.com.