Amazon to Build Fulfillment Centers in Akron and Near Toledo; 2,500 Jobs Planned

Article by Scott Suttell, Managing Editor of Crain's Cleveland Business

Amazon also said it will build a fulfillment center in Rossford, near Toledo. The centers will create a total of 2,500 jobs, the company said in a news release. Each center will be more than 700,000 square feet and will ship to customers small items such as books, electronics and toys, Amazon said.

"Ohio has been a great place to do business, serve customers and create jobs; as a result, we are thrilled to develop two state-of-the-art fulfillment centers in Akron and Rossford," said Alicia Boler Davis, Amazon's vice president of global customer fulfillment, in a statement.

Davis noted that company at present has more than 8,500 employees — she referred to them as "Amazonians" — in the state.

These projects are being developed in partnership with Seefried Industrial Properties, Duke Realty, the Development Finance Authority of Summit County, and the Wood County Port Authority, Amazon said in the release. As for the timing of developing the centers, the company said in a separate statement, "We keep the timing of our building launches flexible to accommodate variation in our network capacity. There are a variety of factors that we take into account when deciding to launch a building such as customer demand, a dedicated workforce and great local support – and we’ve found all of those in Akron and Rossford and surrounding communities."

A spokesman for Amazon said in an email that the center at the Rolling Acres site would have about 1,500 jobs, and the Toledo-area site will have 1,000.
Workers at the centers will earn at least $15 per hour, which is $15 minimum wage. The company also offers full-time employees comprehensive benefits that include full medical, vision, and dental insurance, as well as a 401(k) with a 50% match.

Since 2010, Amazon said, it "has invested more than $5 billion" in Ohio through its customer fulfillment and cloud infrastructure operations.

Amazon already operates a fulfillment center in the Cleveland area on the site of the former Randall Park Mall, and it is opening one soon on the site of the former Euclid Square Mall. It also has two such centers in the Columbus area.