More than 1,000 new jobs are coming to Southern Indiana, thanks to online retail giant Amazon and Louisville-based developer Crossdock Development.
In late March, Crossdock Development sold a 54-acre site in the River Ridge Commerce Center in Jeffersonville, Ind., to Amazon.com, Inc. Amazon plans to build a 1-million-square-foot distribution center on this site. The company also purchased an adjacent parcel of 16 acres to be used as a parking lot for its new facility.
“This is an enormous deal for this region,” said Lee Wilburn, president of Crossdock Development in a recent phone interview. “Just the jobs generated by the construction alone will be a great benefit to this area.”
The jobs are certainly a welcome addition to this slice of Southern Indiana. The new distribution center is expected to employ more than 1,000 people.
Before closing the sale, Crossdock completed all of the required infrastructure work at the 54-acre site. That, Wilburn said, played a key role in attracting Amazon to the River Ridge Commerce Center.
“We had the only site permitted and with all the infrastructure in place ready to go,” Wilburn said. “That is how we got the deal.”
Today, construction crews are busy at the site, pouring construction and tackling sitework jobs. Amazon’s goal is to wrap construction on the site by July. This will allow the retailer to have its distribution center operational for the 2012 Christmas shoppping season.
“The guys are working around the clock,” Wilburn said. “They are working seven days a week, including under the lights at night. They are operating under a very aggressive schedule.”
