STOCKTON, Calif. (KTXL) – The turn of a few shovels Tuesday marked the groundbreaking for a development more than a decade in the making.

San Joaquin County Supervisor Miguel Villapadua said he was excited about the new possibilities Airpark 599 will bring to his district and the area. 

“It’s going to help a lot of families make their mortgage payments and create a great atmosphere for their future,” Villapadua said. “Reno is a big hub right now for companies such as Tesla and Amazon. We want to create that same opportunity. We’re building an infrastructure right now; we’re making that investment for businesses to come here.”

More than 270 acres of vacant, county-owned land in south Stockton will soon be transformed into a sprawling business park next to the Stockton Metropolitan Airport. 

“It’s going to create opportunity and opportunity is what we need in this county,” Villapadua explained.

With an airport, a port and two interstate highways, local officials said the future airpark will make San Joaquin County even more of a destination for businesses. 

“The most desirable industrial land in Central California is right here in San Joaquin County,” said county Supervisor Tom Patti. “So we are Magnin, we have people growing, we have Tesla’s expanding, Kraft Heinz just expanded. We’ve got a multitude of businesses looking at this region as the place they want to be.”

The county is partnering with Catellus to build the multi-million dollar project.  

Officials say phase one will consist of nearly 1.2 million square feet of industrial space that will house a mix of businesses that could create thousands of jobs.

“Every day we have roughly 100,000 people crossing over from the Valley into the Bay Area, so let’s keep those 100,000 people here. Here’s an opportunity for 5,000 of them to have jobs,” Patti said.

The first phase is expected to be completed by this time next year. 

“We made investments and we want citizens to take advantage of it,” Villapadua told FOX40.