FINDLAY, Ohio — Rossford welcomed an Amazon fulfillment center just last year, but now, the tech giant is set to open up a distribution center in Findlay.
The Findlay-Hancock County Economic Development group began planning for the speculative building in 2017.
With the structure and utilities already complete and up to code, these spec buildings are generally used as tools to bring in new business faster and more efficiently. Though this particular building was move-in ready by late 2018, the group couldn't seem to find the right tenant.
"We lost two automotive companies last year: one went to Indiana, one went up north to Bowling Green. In one case, the building was too big, in one case the building was too small, but it gave us a lot of opportunity," Tim Mayle, Findlay-Hancock Economic Development Director Tim Mayle said.
The search came to an end last week, when Amazon finalized the deal to move in.
Amazon will operate regional distribution logistics from the new Findlay location, which means this building is where deliveries will be brought in and then loaded up onto a truck and delivered directly to the consumer.
With the new business, 160 new jobs will also be created, and Amazon will be investing another $5 million into the site.
The expectation is this facility will be a long-term investment for the community, as purchasing trends have shifted online more than ever.
"We've seen that change for a lot of our businesses, and COVID has accelerated a lot of that, with people's purchasing habits and things like that. So, it's going to be a nice value to the community and to the region," Mayle said.
Since the building came with all of the necessary infrastructures already in place, Amazon is expecting to be able to have its operations up and running by this summer.
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