Developers plan to build
a large Amazon warehouse on Boggy Creek Road, south of Orlando International Airport, according to emails about the subject.
Developers plan to build a large Amazon warehouse on Boggy Creek Road, south of Orlando International Airport, emails show.
Emails between Amazon warehouse developer Seefried Industrial Properties and Orange County officials lay out plans for a multistory distribution center that makes use of vertical space with the kind of robotic storage systems that can quickly retrieve any of the millions of products the retailer sells. It will be similar to centers built in Ruskin and Lakeland.
Details of “Project Mojo,” as sources say it has been called, remain preliminary. Three sources with close ties to Central Florida’s industrial market say prospects for Amazon to build in Orlando could still take months of discussions and involve government incentives.
A key point for negotiators so far has been truck access to expedite the delivery of goods throughout Central Florida.
“Maintaining all these access points is very important to Amazon from a traffic perspective,” reads an email from Paul Seefried to Orange County. The developer went on to say that Amazon wants actual traffic counts.
Seefried, who has partnered on other Amazon warehouse developments, also sought government documents showing the warehouse would fit in with current land-use rules.
“Because of the required design investment, Amazon is putting a lot of pressure on us to produce a county letter/memo that states that proposed building fits within the current Airport South PD,” another email reads.
Amazon would have a 15-year lease on the facility, emails from Seefried show.
As discussed, sources say the project could be similar to one built recently in Tulsa, Okla., for Amazon by partners, including Seefried Industrial Properties. With a footprint of 856,000 square feet, the multistory industrial building has a mezzanine that brings the total usable space to 2.3 million square feet. Others said the space might allow only half that storage.
The Seattle-based online shopping company has broadened its Florida footprint with last year’s completion of a 1 million-squarefoot industrial distribution center in Ruskin. Another similar center is being constructed in Jacksonville, and the giant online retailer also has a space in Miami and southwest of Orlando near Plant City.
The site slated for “Project Mojo” will consume more than 130 acres, Growthspotter.com reported early last month.
Amazon has had repeated success winning economic incentives in Florida and elsewhere.
In 2013, Florida awarded the company incentives that could amount to $1.12 million if it creates 375 jobs with an average salary of $47,581 tied to Plant City in Hillsborough County.
The company recently won approval to get $1.18 million of economic incentives if it created 900 fulltime jobs as part of a $130 million Colorado fulfillment center being built in Aurora, Colo. The jobs would pay an average $30,297, according to incentive agreements reported by the Denver Post. Kentucky Economic Development Finance Authority approved tax incentives up to $40 million if Amazon meets job and investment targets, according to The Lane Report.