New Amazon sorting facility will bring more jobs to Tucson

TUCSON, Ariz. (KOLD News 13) - More jobs are coming to Tucson. Amazon is building a new 275,000 square foot facility on Alvernon Way and Corona Road.

The facility will be a sorting center where thousands of packages will get organized and sent out. To staff this place fully, Amazon says they’ll need to hire hundreds of people.

“We love jobs,” said Barbra Coffee, the director of economic impacts for Tucson. “It’s a fantastic opportunity for the city to have this opportunity.”

Jobs have been somewhat hard to come by during the pandemic, which is part of why Coffee is so excited about the project.

“Any time you’re putting people back to work, they have more money to spend in our local economy,” said Coffee.

These jobs could give people more disposable income, meaning people will spend more money at local restaurants and shops.

The city says it did not offer Amazon any tax breaks or incentives to build this facility. Rather, Coffee thinks the location sells itself. But Lisa Guinn, a spokesperson for Amazon, says the company looks at many aspects when choosing a new location.

“We look at the local workforce, Arizona has an incredible work force,” sais Lisa Guinn, a spokesperson for Amazon. “We look at the community partners we’ll be partnering with. There are a variety of factors we look at that are related to geography, such as access to major highways or being close to airports.”

Coffee says Tucson has all the factors Amazon is looking for.

“Our proximity to Mexico, and the situation of having both I-10 and I-19 close and just six hours from long beach ports, I think, made us a great location for distribution activity,” said Coffee

The prime location is no secret. Amazon has multiple facilities across the state, already employing 32,000 Arizonans- about 2,000 of those people are here in tucson.

“Arizona has an abundance of talent,” said Guinn. “We’re really excited to continue to grow across the state as well as in southern Arizona.”

Amazon does not have a date for when this facility will be completed though. Officials say it would be sometime later this year.

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