The Pasco Economic Development Council Inc., has announced Amazon’s commitment to build a 517,220-square-foot facility that will be home to 500 employees.
The $150 million Amazon Robotic Sortation Center (ARSC) is being built at Eagle Industrial Park, a 127-acre property that was identified as part of the Pasco EDC Ready Sites Program.
The Pasco EDC Ready Sites Program, funded through Penny for Pasco, accesses, evaluates and certifies large tracts of land to prepare properties for industrial development, according to information from Pasco EDC.
Bill Cronin, president and CEO of the Pasco EDC, shared details of the planned project during the Pasco County Commission’s Jan. 25 meeting.
“This facility is going to employ more than 500 people, and this is not your typical sorting facility.
“This is the good stuff, you guys. This is one that you fight over,” Cronin added.
“This is a robotics center, which means that our students at the career academies — studying robotics — and people working through AmSkills, all have the opportunity to be able to work on these machines and robots.
“These are not the low-paying jobs of typical sorters.
“We got their attention because of the way we operated and handled their first project,” he said, referring to Amazon’s facility on State Road 54.
“We told them we want the good stuff. They listened. They came back and they delivered,” a clearly exuberant Cronin said.
“So, at 10 o’clock this morning, Amazon issued a national press release about four of these competitive (projects) in Florida,” he added.
Cronin also shared a quote with commissioners that he had received from Sam Blatt, economic development manager for Amazon.
In the email, Blatt said: “Given Eagle Industrial Park’s location and the availability of the quality of our workforce in the region, Pasco County was a natural fit for Amazon’s new sort center.”
Cronin said Amazon will be breaking ground any day on the project, which will likely take about 11 months to build.
“So, we should be looking at the end of the year, at a state-of-the-art facility right at (State Road) 52 and Bellamy (Brothers Boulevard).”
Pasco County Commission Chairwoman Kathryn Starkey noted: “ AmSkills has received funding to really blow up our robotics training program and we’re going to be working with Wendell Krinn (Technical High School) with their robotics academy, so we’re real excited about being able to help Amazon get their workforce.”
Commissioner Mike Moore added: “What a big win for Pasco County, really, the entire region.”
The new Amazon site has frontage on State Road 52 and is less than 2 miles from Interstate 75.
Pasco Commissioner Ron Oakley commented on the project, in a Pasco EDC news release.
“This is a unique facility supporting a lot of technology and robotics. I am thrilled to have such a cutting-edge facility join the evolving SR 52 (State Road 52) and I-75 (Interstate 75) corridor,” Oakley said.
The new facility is considered a mid-mile facility, which feeds Amazon logistics, according to the Pasco EDC release. The facility will feature line-haul trucks, which will use the I-75 corridor to bring shipments to locations across the southeast.
Published February 02, 2022
