After months of secrecy, online retailer Amazon went public Monday on its massive new warehouse being built in North Memphis, a facility that is expected to create about 1,000 new jobs.
The new fulfillment center will be the size of about 14 football fields, or 855,000-square-feet, and the first in Tennessee equipped with the company’s robotic technology.
“All product and shelving comes directly to our associates instead of our associates going to all the product and shelving,” said Robert Packett, a regional director of operations for Amazon, on how the robotic systems quicken the sorting and shipping process.
All new employees will make a minimum of $15 an hour, Packett said.
The project has long been in a quiet phase as state officials worked out incentive deals for the $200 million development. At Monday’s reveal, Gov. Bill Lee said the state’s contribution is still being finalized.
“Incentivizing hundreds of millions of dollars of investment into a community is absolutely dollars that we want to use,” he said.
Though Gov. Lee touts Tennessee as a business-friendly state, some major companies have criticized recent lawmaking. Amazon, among others, opposedan adoption bill the Governor signed last week allowing faith-based, taxpayer-funded adoption agencies to turn away would-be LGBT parents.
“Amazon does not support this legislation,” a company spokeswoman said in a statement. “We have a long history of supporting equality, and we’re opposed to laws that discriminate or encourage discrimination.”
Lee’s recent slate of anti-abortion proposals are similar to those in other states that certain industries have threatened with economic boycott.
Asked about potential backlash in Tennessee, Lee did not express concern.
“The real goal is to find the right balance that protects rights and liberties and freedoms of Tennesseans,” the Republican governor said. “And that at the same time, creates an environment where companies like Amazon want to invest and to change lives here through job creation.”
Amazon expects the fulfillment center to be operational this year.