Amazon planning Hancock County facility, 1,000 jobs

(IIB Photo/Mary-Rachel Redman)

HANCOCK COUNTY, Ind. (Inside INdiana Business) – Amazon.com Inc. (Nasdaq: AMZN) is looking to establish another facility in central Indiana. According to a construction permit filed with the state late last month, the online retail giant plans to occupy a shell building in Hancock County and create up to 1,000 jobs.

The more than 660,000-square-foot facility is being built by Indianapolis-based Ambrose Property Group. In November, the commercial real estate firm broke ground on a 500,000-square-foot logistics center along the Mount Comfort Corridor which it said would be expandable to 660,000 square feet.

Amazon plans to use the building as an e-commerce fulfillment and distribution facility. The permit did not specify how much Amazon would be investing in the project or give an estimated time for operations to begin.

A spokesperson for Amazon provided the following statement to Inside INdiana Business: 

Amazon is excited to announce our continued investment in Indiana with a new operations facility in Greenfield. More than 800 new, fulltime employees will receive and ship products to other Amazon fulfillment centers in the network. On top of Amazon’s $15 minimum wage, the company offers full-time employees comprehensive benefits including full medical, vision, and dental insurance, and 401(k) with 50 percent match, all 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 with their growing families.

The building, according to Ambrose, is meant to be the first of four as part of an overall $78 million investment. The campus is being developed for e-commerce and logistics tenants.

The Indiana Economic Development Corp. says, pending the approval from its board of directors, it will offer Amazon up to $3.8 million in conditional tax credits, which the company will not be eligible to claim until Hoosier workers are hired for the new jobs. The IEDC will also offer up to $500,000 to the community from the Industrial Development Grant Fund, which will support infrastructure improvements at the site.

Amazon employs a large number of Hoosiers at several facilities throughout the state, including Plainfield, Indianapolis, Whitestown, Jeffersonville, and its recently-opened facility in Greenwood.

Inside INdiana Business has reached out to Amazon and Ambrose Property Group for comment.