Amazon raising 15th Pennsylvania DC

SEATTLE – Amazon.com plans to open its fifteenth Pennsylvania facility in Pittsburgh.

The new fulfillment centre will be more than one million square feet where 800 employees will pick, pack and ship larger customer items, such as sports equipment, patio furniture, kayaks and larger home goods.

Since 2010, the company has invested more than US$8.5 billion in the state through its local fulfillment centre and cloud infrastructure, research facilities, and employee wages for 10,000 existing employees. Using methodology developed by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, Amazon estimates its investments in the state have created an additional 8,000 indirect jobs on top of the company’s direct hires.

“A new, from-the-ground-up fulfillment centre will increase the count of several local Amazon facilities – including a growing engineering centre – that provide, or will provide, thousands of well-paying jobs in the region,” said Pittsburgh Regional Alliance (PRA) president Mark Thomas.

“The PRA – the economic development marketing affiliate of the Allegheny Conference on Community Development – was happy to bring together a number of partners to showcase the Pittsburgh assets that support the company’s expansion plans. These include proven strength in distribution and logistics, pad-ready parcels with nearby interstate and highway access and a workforce pipeline that meets the hiring demands of enterprises on the leading edge of innovation.”

“This is great news for our region. We appreciate the ongoing partnership with Amazon that began years ago. Their continued expansion in this region is more evidence that the ecodistrict of logistics, warehouse and manufacturing in the airport corridor is starting to gain momentum,” said county executive Rich Fitzgerald, Allegheny County.