Amazon has announced it will build a massive new order fulfillment center near the Colorado Springs airport, bringing more than a thousand new jobs to the economically distressed southeastern part of the city.
“This is the manifestation of great success for [the] southeast,” said Bob Cope, the city’s economic development manager.
“You're going to have so many jobs here and those people are going to want to… live close to work, others are gonna want to go out to lunch," Cope said.
"So that's going to spur, hopefully, new housing opportunities and also new retail opportunities in the are."
Amazon purchased the land for the new 800,000-square-foot building from the Colorado Springs Airport. The facility aims to anchor a new business park.
The airport’s director of aviation Greg Phillips said what’s planned will be far bigger than any other Amazon facility in the state.
“In fact, it's our understanding that this could be, when all is said and done, the biggest distribution facility of its type that Amazon has ever built," he said.
The size and design of the center will reflect Amazon’s evolving strategies for more efficient package delivery and will serve a wide geographic area, Phillips said. He also expects the project to result in more cargo flights coming into the increasingly busy municipal airport.
The thousand-plus new jobs at the center will add to the hundreds of Amazon employees who already work in the region. A press release from the city said there are more than 4,000 full-time Amazon employees across the state of Colorado. Jobs at the fulfillment center start with a $15 minimum wage and benefits including medical, vision and dental insurance.
The deal with Amazon was finalized last week and the city did not offer any tax incentives to secure the facility, Phillips said.
The fulfillment center is expected to open in summer 2021.
