On Monday, Amazon announced plans to build a massive fulfillment center in the Orlando, FL area. The 850,000 sq-ft facility will be provide roughly 1,500 new full-time positions by 2018.
Also, according to the company, the warehouse will “pick, pack, and ship small items to customers like books, electronics, or consumer goods,” though the official size and actual square footage available for operations could be maybe three times bigger as the company adds automation mezzanines to add robots (in a way similar to other warehouses).
As of time of print, state and county officials have not announced, yet, whether Amazon will get any financial incentives for building and staffing this warehouse, which is actually being built by a third party: Seefried Industrial Properties. We do know, however, that Amazon will have a 15 year lease on this new facility with the land still owned by a Tavistock Group affiliate named Crockett Development Property LLC.
In addition, Amazon vice president of North America operations, Akash Chauhan also shared, “We are excited to join the Orlando community, creating more than 1,500 full-time jobs at our new fulfillment center. We very much appreciate the state and local elected leaders who have supported Amazon’s arrival in Orlando and we look forward to bringing more jobs and investment to the state in the coming months.”
Amazon has been using a growing network of fulfillment centers throughout North America to continue improving the service they can provide. This, of course, is part of the company’s aim to solidify its top spot as the leading internet retailer in the region. After all, the company already has major fulfillment centers in Lakeland and in Ruskin with another in Davenport that focuses on fulfilling Amazon’s one-day shipping offer.
