State officials have formally announced Amazon will open a new fulfillment center in Wilmington.
Officials say Amazon has signed the lease to rent at the site of the recently demoed General Motors’ Boxwood Road assembly plant.
The Nevada-based developer Dermody Properties bought the site last year, and will build-to-suit Amazon’s third fulfillment center in the state.
The planned 820,000 square foot facility is expected to create 1,000 new full time jobs.
Delaware Prosperity Partnership President and CEO Kurt Foreman says that’s particularly reassuring during the pandemic.
“Delaware and our neighbors and our world have been through a lot in the last few weeks and months. So there’s a lot changing but it’s, I think, always good for our psyche and our pocket books when companies commit and move forward on job growth,” said Foreman.
The State Council on Development Finance voted in February to approve $4.5 million in taxpayer dollars to Amazon for a new Delaware location.
Foreman says that performance-based grant has yet to be finalized between Amazon and the state.
State Rep. John Kowalko of Newark has voiced opposition to the grant, calling it a case of “corporate extortion.”
According to Amazon’s grant application, the company plans to create positions ranging from fulfillment associate to area manager. Positions paid hourly would earn between roughly $31,000 and $33,000 annually. Salaried positions would earn around $60,000.
Gov. John Carney said in a statement, “We welcome additional investment that will result in more jobs for Delaware families.”
In New Castle County Executive Matt Meyer’s statement, he pointed out the Boxwood site is “one of our largest commercial sites, one that hasn’t created any jobs [having been] barren for more than a decade.”
Amazon has been operating in Delaware for more than 20 years and employs more than 2,500 Delawareans.
