Amazon hosts Lamont at new fulfillment center
Gov. Ned Lamont and other state and local officials joined Amazon executives for a tour to view construction progress on the retail behemoth”™s new North Haven fulfillment center this morning.
Amazon executives say they”™re on pace to open the 855,000-square-foot fulfillment center in North Haven by this summer. Crews broke ground on the facility at 409 Washington Ave. in February 2018.
Scarsdale’s Rabina Properties bought the 168-acre site from Pratt & Whitney in 2001 and signed the lease with Amazon last year.
The company said the new operation will create 1,800 full-time jobs. Those employees will work alongside Amazon Robotics to sort and ship customer items.
The location will be the company”™s second fulfillment center in Connecticut and fourth location in the state overall. Amazon first launched operations in the state in 2016 with a fulfillment center in Windsor, which currently employs more than 1,500 full-time workers. The company also has a sortation center in Wallingford, a delivery station in Bristol, and an Amazon Air Hub in Hartford. In total, Amazon currently employs more than 2,000 people in Connecticut.
“Amazon”™s relationship with Connecticut continues to grow as the company is seeing the value of our state as an emerging hub of its northeast operations,” Lamont said. “Our state meets the needs of an innovative, 21st century company like Amazon ”“ with an in-demand talent pool of workers and some of the nation”™s top educational institutions.”
Amazon has invested more than $1 billion into its local fulfillment center infrastructure and through compensation to thousands of employees in the state. The company said that its investments have contributed an additional $604 million into Connecticut”™s economy between 2010 and 2018. Using methodology developed by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, Amazon estimates that its investments in the state have created an additional 3,000 or more indirect jobs on top of its direct hires.
“When choosing where to expand our operations, we look at two main factors ”“ an engaged workforce and great local support ”“ and we have found both here in North Haven and Connecticut,” Richard Dyce, director of operations for the new fulfillment center, said. “We appreciate the strong support we”™ve received from the State of Connecticut, as well as from our local county and community leaders, who have all been invaluable partners in the success of this facility, even before we launch operations.”
Hiring for the North Haven fulfillment center will begin next month.