Amazon will have an enormous economic impact In Tampa and Hillsborough County
This deal is official. Tampa, Florida will be the next destination for the retail giant Amazon.
A fulfillment center
of epic proportions is going to be built by the end 2014.
“This is bigger than landing the Super Bowl, a national Convention or the
Olympics. It’s a mega storm of growth that’s hitting our county with feeder
bands that will create economic growth all over this area,” said Commissioner
Sandy Murman. An immediate investment
of $200 million and creation of up to 3000 jobs are some of the notable
benefits of this deal.
Amazon has been
trying to build a distribution center in the state of Florida for the past 3 years and
Tampa is always an attractive city for business. However, high property taxes and other obstacles were
slowing down this Amazon
goal from
becoming reality. In July 2013,
Hillsborough commissioners realized the potential advantages of an operation
like this and voted on lowering Amazon’s property taxes which consequently
sealed the whole deal. The facility
located near Interstate 75 and State Road 674 was bought by a real estate
company for $14.6 million and it will be leased to Amazon for an indefinite
period of time. Out of the 1000
permanent jobs, 375 will pay more than $47,581 annually which is 15% more than
the average state wage. Commission
Chairman Ken Hagan said, “I can’t underscore enough the tremendous economic
impact that will be realized in the South Shore community.”
The idea behind this
project is to make Amazon’s shipping capabilities more effective and efficient.
A fulfillment center in Florida could make it possible for customers to receive
the product on the same day they have ordered it online. So far, Amazon has 11
local express delivery markets across the country including Boston, Chicago,
and Seattle. In the end, the Hillsborough County is thrilled to have one of the
biggest online retail giants building a facility in its neighborhood. The
possible economic impact on this area has no limits.
This also means that
other mega companies could appreciate
the
strategic and geographic importance of the Greater Tampa Bay
region and
build more facilities.
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