Walmart’s $1.3 billion Carnesville plan leaves Commerce Electric role unresolved

Walmart plans to build a 1.5 million-square-foot automated fulfillment center at the Franklin 85 Logistics Center in Carnesville, a project WNEG Radio reported Aug. 27 as part of an announcement by the Georgia Governor’s Office. The reported $1.3 billion investment is expected to create 1,000 jobs in Franklin County, with construction expected to begin in late 2026. The announcement has renewed attention on a City of Commerce proposal to provide electric service to Walmart in Carnesville, though no public record here establishes that Commerce Electric will power the newly announced facility.

The unanswered power question matters because a large automated distribution operation depends on substantial, dependable electric capacity. Commerce’s Feb. 16 agenda packet described a possible Walmart distribution center with projected demand of about 6 megawatts and named Commerce Electric as the proposed provider. But that proposal identified 10725 Old Federal Road, while WNEG Radio’s reporting placed the announced fulfillment center at Franklin 85 Logistics Center. Whether those references describe the same project could determine Commerce’s role in a development expected to reshape local employment and infrastructure planning.

The Commerce proposal came first: the city’s Feb. 16 agenda packet scheduled consideration of an electric power-service contract for Walmart at the Old Federal Road address. Months later, WNEG Radio reported the Governor’s Office announcement of Walmart’s larger, specifically located fulfillment-center plan at Franklin 85 Logistics Center. That later announcement supplies the scale and anticipated timeline missing from the city proposal, but it does not connect the proposed contract to the announced site or show that construction has started.

Walmart said through the Governor’s Office announcement, as reported by WNEG Radio, that the new center would help it expand same-day and next-day shipping while creating local career opportunities. Franklin Springs Mayor and Franklin County Industrial Authority Chairman Lee Moore characterized the investment as an economic milestone, while Industrial Building Authority President Tonya Powers credited state, local and utility partners. Commerce’s position in the official agenda packet was narrower: it presented a proposed service contract naming Commerce Electric, rather than a statement that the city had secured or begun service for the Franklin 85 project.

The fulfillment center remains a reported plan, not a completed facility. WNEG Radio’s account of the Governor’s Office announcement attributes the investment, job estimate and late-2026 construction expectation to that announcement; it does not establish that work is under way or that the site is operating. Separately, the Feb. 16 agenda packet establishes scheduled consideration of a Commerce electric-service proposal only. It does not show whether the proposal was approved, changed, rejected or deferred, nor does it establish a completed agreement between Walmart and Commerce.

The next public checkpoint is a City of Commerce record of the Feb. 16 action or a later council document addressing the proposed contract. That record could show whether officials acted and whether any terms link Commerce Electric to the Franklin 85 Logistics Center facility. Until then, residents cannot tell from the city proceeding whether the Old Federal Road proposal covers Walmart’s announced project, who will provide its final electric service, or how the project will move from announcement to construction.