SEARSPORT – The federal and state governments said Wednesday they will kick in some $2.8 million to build a 90,000-square-foot warehouse at the cargo port at Mack Point.

The warehouse will be used to store both in-bound and out-bound noncontainerized cargo that cannot be stored outdoors.

Matthew Crow, a Commerce Department spokesman, said an influx of federal money into Mack Point will result in creation of 290 jobs in eastern Maine, but he and others involved offered few specifics Wednesday about how that would be accomplished.

Crow said the warehouse would be designed to handle “forest and food-grade” products.

The Commerce Department is contributing $1.74 million to the project. The state Department of Transportation has committed an additional $1.1 million as matching funds for construction.

The Maine Port Authority recently completed construction of a $13 million cargo pier at Mack Point in conjunction with Sprague Energy, which owns an adjoining pier and manages the port facility.

The new pier is made of steel and poured concrete and was designed to handle cargo from ships berthed on either side of the pier. The pier is 100 feet wide and 800 feet long. As part of the project, the area around the pier was dredged to allow the transit of modern vessels.

Studies have identified forest products and agriculture as the major commodities that will be loaded and unloaded at the Mack Point pier.

The warehouse is viewed as a necessary complement to the pier and is part of a long-term redevelopment project that also calls for a container facility, open storage areas and the rehabilitation of Sprague’s petroleum and liquid cargo pier adjacent to the new, dry cargo pier. The cost of the entire project will be around $26 million when completed.

A state analysis found that because of the highway and rail connections available at Searsport, the facility will be able to serve the international transportation needs of eastern and northern Maine.

Ships that leave Searsport can arrive in Europe a full day sooner than ships leaving the Port of New York. The rail connection links Searsport to Montreal and the St. Lawrence Seaway. Containers arriving at Mack Point could be shipped by rail to Montreal, then by ships to markets in the upper Midwest.