City Life

Amazon breaks ground on $325 million fulfillment center in Bessemer


Excerpts from Made in Alabama. October 02, 2018
Words by Jerry Underwood
 
BESSEMER, Alabama — Internet retail giant Amazon officially kicked off a construction project today for a technologically advanced fulfillment center in Bessemer that will employ 1,500 workers once the sprawling facility is fully operational next year.
Amazon’s 855,000-square-foot facility is being constructed on 133 acres of property formerly owned by U.S. Steel off Powder Plant Road in Bessemer, located just minutes away from Birmingham. Total investment in the project is $325 million. Amazon officials joined Governor Kay Ivey and leaders from Jefferson County and the City of Bessemer at a ceremonial groundbreaking this afternoon at the site, where construction is already under way on the facility. Ryan Lively, operations manager for Amazon, said the company’s first Alabama fulfillment center will house the latest technology, including state-of-the-art robotics, to help the 1,500 workers pick, pack and ship items such as books, toys, health care products and electronics items to customers in the Southeast and beyond. To read more visit http://www.madeinalabama.com/2018/10/amazon-kicks-off-construction-of-first-alabama-fulfillment-center/