Amazon will build a new $150 million distribution site in Pasco County with a unique and extensive robotics system, Bill Cronin, president and CEO of the Pasco Economic Development Council, told county commissioners on Jan. 25.
The company will soon begin construction on the 517,220-sq. ft. structure on State Road 52 at Bellamy Brothers Blvd. in New Port Richey, The Tampa Bay Times reported. Construction is expected to take just less than a year.
After the announcement, commissioners discussed about whether they should focus on preparing new ready–to-build sites throughout the county to be ready for future development.
Commissioner Mike Moore, who has repeatedly voiced concern about the corridors along State Roads 54 and 56 becoming hot spots for apartment projects instead, asked, “What should we do to preserve some of these job-creating sites?
“Eventually we could run out of space” for these kinds of needed job providers, Moore said.
“This is a unique facility supporting a lot of technology and robotics,” said Commissioner Ron Oakley. “I am thrilled to have such a cutting-edge facility join the evolving State Road 52 and I-75 corridor.”
“This facility will feature linehaul trucks which will utilize the Interstate 75 corridor to bring shipments to locations across the southeast,” Amazon said in a news release. “The most unique feature will be the approximately 180,000-sq. ft. mezzanine supporting a 100 percent robotics-based sorting system.”
“Amazon has created new roles within its sort centers for managing the robots and the specialists receive on-the-job training to learn how the robots work, how they’re programed and how they read and navigate the center floor,” the Amazon statement said..
“Given Eagle Industrial Park’s location and the availability of a quality workforce in the region, Pasco County was a natural fit for Amazon’s new sort center,” said Sam Blatt, economic development manager for Amazon, in the release.
“This is such a great win for the county in terms of investment and jobs, and we couldn’t be happier that they chose a site from our Ready Sites Program,” Cronin said. “The Ready Sites Program was created to help big projects like this close and locate quickly and that’s exactly what they are doing.”
