Amazon announced the company’s latest robotics fulfillment center in Louisiana, with over 1,000 jobs and a $200 million capital investment coming to Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
Located on the former site of Cortana Mall, the facility is being constructed near the intersection of Florida Boulevard and Airline Highway, providing necessary access for Amazon’s logistics operations.
The Amazon robotics fulfillment center in Baton Rouge will include contemporary robotics technology, inventory and shipping operations in a multi-level building with an 820,000-square-foot foundation.
The project will create over 1,000 full-time jobs with starting pay of $15 per hour and comprehensive benefits beginning on day one — full medical, vision and dental insurance; and 401(k) savings with a 50 percent company match. The development will generate 800 construction jobs, and Louisiana Economic Development estimates the project will result in an additional 1,139 new indirect jobs, for a total of more than 2,100 permanent new jobs in Louisiana’s Capital Region.
Baton Rouge is strategically located for Amazon to secure its goal of fast delivery to customers in Louisiana and across the Gulf Coast. Construction is already underway for the Baton Rouge facility, with plans to open the site by December 2022. In addition to the robotics fulfillment center, the company also operates an Amazon Delivery Station in Baton Rouge, located off Rieger Road.
The Amazon robotics fulfillment center in Baton Rouge is tied with the recently announced robotics fulfillment center in Shreveport as the two largest of the eight Amazon facilities operating, announced or under construction in Louisiana.
At the new Robotics Facility in Baton Rouge, Amazon employees will pick, pack and ship smaller customer orders, such as books, toys, electronics and other household items alongside the latest in robotics technology.
To offset site infrastructure costs, Amazon will be eligible for a $5 million performance-based grant payable in two installments during 2022 and 2023.
The hiring of most employees for Amazon’s Baton Rouge fulfillment center will begin in summer 2022, approximately three months prior to the launch of the facility. ■
A low pressure wave forming along a cold front will track across the New England coast this morning, bringing a period of rain, heavy at times for much of New England, especially for Maine today.