Mount Hope and Stoney Creek will be key when Amazon completes its 855,000 square-foot fulfillment centre set to open in 2021, according to the city of Hamilton.
Amazon Canada announced the building of the facility and delivery station in Hamilton with the expectation of 1,500 new jobs when construction of both is complete.
In a release on Wednesday, the city said the main piece will be the fulfillment centre in Mount Hope adjacent to John C. Munro Hamilton International Airport, where workers are expected to work alongside Amazon robotics to pick, pack and ship small items.
Stoney Creek will be the home of a new 50,000 square-foot delivery station which will be the “last mile” of the delivery process which will ship books, electronics and toys.
In the release, the city said the announcement was a “prime opportunity” to develop and promote the region’s Airport Employment Growth District (AEGD) as a North American gateway hub for logistics, distribution and goods movement.
“I am pleased that this significant investment will create 1,500 full-time jobs for the people of Hamilton,” Mayor Fred Eisenberger said.
“This is the beginning of a strong partnership with Amazon Canada and I look forward to our continued collaboration in the future.”
The city’s director of economic development Norm Schleehan says an existing partnership between Amazon and overnight air cargo firm Cargojet was likely a key part of the decision to operate a fulfillment centre near the airport.
“We have a 90-minute catchment of eight point eight million people on a one day drive to over 150 million people,” said Schleehan. “So we’re primed from a logistics and distribution perspective.”
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Schleehan says 80 acres of land purchased by developer Panattoni is at the centre of a private transaction with Amazon for a parcel of property just off of Upper James Street and Dickenson Road.
The location is not far from Panattoni’s 264,000 square-foot warehouse building at 50 Aeropark Boulevard, a three hanger Kelowna Flightcraft project, and a 200,000 square-foot DHL facility currently under construction.
“Put that all together and you’ve got about 1.5 million square feet of non-residential construction going on right now in the city. That means a lot of jobs and that means a lot of new taxes, tax revenue for the city at a time that we really needed,” Schleehan said.
President of the Hamilton & District Labour Council Anthony Marco says he’s “critically optimistic” of the announcement with some concern over potential precarious employment and monetary incentives the three levels of government may have given Amazon to set up shop.
“We have the richest man in the world and one of the richest companies in the world who obviously are coming here because they see an opportunity to make money,” said Marco.
“Are the jobs good? Are they going to be paying at a rate that allows people to live in the city? It will certainly mean that we have to do probably some improvements to our public transit routes out there as well.”
On Wednesday, Amazon also announced new location in Ajax, Ont., which will employ more than 1,000 workers who will pack and ship large items such as sports equipment, patio furniture, pet food and other household goods. It’s opening is set for 2021.
The new facilities are the company’s ninth and tenth in Ontario and the 15th and 16th fulfillment centres in Canada.
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