Amazon Delivers to West Central Florida

Photo Taken from Amazon FulFillment website

Retail giant Amazon recently confirmed plans to build two fulfillment centers in Hillsborough County (Ruskin) and Polk County (Lakeland), with each site slated to be more than 1 million square feet.

“We look forward to offering more than 1,000 full-time jobs with comprehensive benefits at our new fulfillment centers in Hillsborough County and Lakeland, Florida,” said Mike Roth, Amazon’s vice president of North America operations. “We appreciate the state, city and county officials who have worked with us to bring these fulfillment centers to Florida.”

Given Amazon’s business model, Polk will handle large items and Hillsborough will deal with smaller items. In talks since June with Ruskin, Amazon will open in the South Shore Corporate Park there located west of Interstate 75 and north of State Road 674.

Hillsborough County commissioners approved economic incentives worth more than $6 million over seven years, with the state contributing an additional $900,000.

“Amazon’s decision to invest in Florida is yet another vote of confidence in the state’s business climate. The distribution facilities in Hillsborough County and Lakeland are incredibly important for those regions as well as the state,” said Secretary of Commerce and President and CEO of Enterprise Florida Gray Swoope. “This announcement signifies that Florida has the infrastructure, workforce and business-friendly climate needed to support companies like Amazon.”

The Hillsborough County project will be developed by Seefried Development Management, Inc. and Johnson Development Associates, Inc. will develop the Lakeland site. USAA Real Estate Company is the landlord for both projects.

Amazon.com is a Seattle-based Fortune 500 company with net sales topping $61 billion in 2012.