Amazon Inc. today announced its continued investment in the metro Detroit area with five new buildings to support operations closer to customers. The sites are expected to create more than 2,000 permanent full- and part-time jobs with a minimum $15 per hour wage and comprehensive benefits starting on the employee’s first day.
On one of the five new sites, Amazon plans to open a new 823,000-square-foot fulfillment center at the former State Fairgrounds site at Woodward Avenue and Eight Mile Road in Detroit. When it opens next year, the facility will create 1,200 new full-time jobs.
The site will be the fourth fulfillment center in the state using Amazon robotics to help associates pick, pack, and ship smaller items to customers.
The other four sites include a same-day facility, XL fulfillment center, and two sortation centers that play critical roles in the fulfillment of large products and “middle mile,” or the process of transporting packages between Amazon sites before last mile delivery for customers.
Packages are shipped to sort centers from Amazon Air hubs, gateways, and fulfillment centers to be sorted by zip code before being transported to delivery stations or last-mile delivery partners for customer delivery. In 2021, Amazon’s new fulfillment and sortation centers in metro Detroit include:
- Detroit — Amazon Robotics Fulfillment Center.
- Hazel Park — Sub-Same-Day Fulfillment Center.
- Pinnacle Park — Amazon “XLFC” Fulfillment Center, Huron Township.
- Pinnacle Park — Amazon Sort Center, Huron Township.
- Plymouth Township — Amazon Sort Center.
- Pontiac — Amazon Robotics Fulfillment Center.
Amazon currently operates 10 sites in Detroit that support customer fulfillment and delivery operations, including four facilities that launched in 2020.
“With this deal, we are able to appropriately redevelop the (former) Pinnacle property (horse track), adding roughly 1,000 new jobs for local residents while expanding our tax base at the same time,” says Wayne County Executive Warren Evans. “When I took office, I made it a priority to repurpose the land in a more productive way that made sense for the location.
“Working in collaboration with Huron Township leaders and Detroit Region Aerotropolis, my team identified a new approach for the site that was both economically viable and consistent with the community’s vision. I’m pleased that Amazon agrees that Pinnacle is a prime location for a world-class logistics and distribution facility that will put Wayne County residents to work.”
As Amazon grows in Detroit, it is committed to contributing in a variety of ways to the local community where our teams live and work, including by supporting food banks with monetary contributions and delivery services, funding computer science education for underserved and underrepresented students, and providing in-kind donations to meet immediate and basic needs.
Most recently, Amazon donated $100,000 to the Detroit Public Schools Community District (DPSCD) to help the district enhance its science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) programs and expand its resources. Beyond the donation, Amazon plans to support the school’s STEM programs with hands-on learning and mentorship opportunities in the coming year.
“Amazon’s investment in our expanding Career Academy work with a focus on STEM will allow students to continue to experience a more relevant high school education,” says Nikolai Vitti, Detroit Public Schools Community District’s superintendent.
“We are continuing to see more companies recognize that there is a shared responsibility in ensuring that career pathways are developed at the high school level and through the traditional public school system to ensure that the greatest number of students in the city can actualize their talent. When this happens, students, companies, and the city all benefit.”
In total, Amazon invested more than $2.5 million in 2020 to multiple nonprofit organizations in the region, including:
- Beaumont Children’s Center
- Big Brothers Big Sisters of Metropolitan Detroit
- Cass Community Social Services Inc.
- COTS of Detroit Forgotten Harvest
- Friends of Animals Detroit
- Forgotten Harvest
- Matrix Human Services
As part Amazon’s minimum $15 per hour wage, the company offers full-time employees comprehensive benefits including full medical, vision, and dental insurance as well as a 401(k) with 50 percent match starting on day one.
The company also offers up to 20 weeks of maternal and parental paid leave and innovative benefits such as Leave Share and Ramp Back, which give new parents flexibility to support their growing families.
Amazon also has pledged to invest more than $700 million to provide upskilling training for 100,000 U.S. employees for in-demand jobs, and in 2020 it promoted more than 35,000 associates in its operations network.
The upskilling programs will help Amazon team members from all backgrounds access training to move into highly skilled roles across the company’s corporate offices, tech hubs, fulfillment centers, retail stores, and transportation network, or pursue career paths in high-demand fields outside of Amazon.
Since 2010, Amazon has …
- Created more than 13,500 jobs in Michigan and invested more than $2.5 billion across the state, including infrastructure and compensation to its employees.
- Amazon’s investments have contributed more than $2.1 billion in GDP to the Michigan economy and have helped create over 10,000 indirect jobs on top of Amazon’s direct hires — from jobs in construction and logistics to professional services.
- More than 42,000 independent authors and small and medium businesses in Michigan are selling to customers in Amazon’s store, creating thousands of additional jobs across the state.
“We’re excited to be expanding our network to better serve our customers in the great city of Detroit,” says Alicia Boler Davis, Amazon’s vice president of global customer fulfillment. “We are grateful for the strong support we’ve received from local and state leaders as we broaden our footprint throughout Michigan. We look forward to bringing more than 2,000 good jobs to Metro Detroit and contributing positively to the community.”
