Amazon to build mega warehouse in Orlando

ORLANDO, Fla. — Amazon announced on Monday that it plans to build a massive warehouse south of Orlando International Airport.

The sprawling project will be built on undeveloped land at Boggy Creek Road and Jeff Fuqua Boulevard in the city’s Lake Nona neighborhood. It will open next year, the company said.

Employees at the planned 850,000 square-foot fulfillment center will pick, package and ship small items, including books and electronics, the internet sales giant said.

The company said it will hire 1,500 full-time employees to staff the large warehouse, which will feature Amazon’s elaborate robotics system.

“We very much appreciate the state and local elected leaders who have supported Amazon’s arrival in Orlando,” Akash Chauhan, Amazon’s vice president of North America operations, said in a press release.

The nation’s largest retailer said it has hired more than 4,000 full-time workers in Florida since it constructed its first fulfillment center in the state in 2013. Once completed, the new warehouse will increase that workforce to 9,000 employees statewide, Amazon said.

“We’ve worked hard to expedite permitting and other county functions in order to get this new type of fulfillment distribution center… up and running,” Orange County Mayor Teresa Jacobs said in the press release. “This is a huge win for Central Florida and a wonderful opportunity for our entire community.”

The project is being developed in a partnership between Seefried Industrial Properties and an affiliate of USAA Real Estate Company.

The land was sold by Tavistock Development Company, Lake Nona’s developer. The company will oversee the widening of Boggy Creek Road from two lanes to four lanes on behalf of the county. Construction began last week and the facility could be open sometime in 2018.

The jobs haven't been posted online yet.

Cox Media Group