Amazon's massive $550 million warehouse and distribution center is under construction near Buffalo, but local officials are reportedly worried the e-commerce giant won't be able to find enough workers to fill the 1,000 jobs it plans to create when it opens.
The First Mile facility, an area the size of 53 football fields in the rural town of Niagara, has no public transportation and, while workers there earn above minimum wage, they're not considered particularly high-paying.
The facility, scheduled to open in 2026, is being built at a time when Western New York's workforce is shrinking and demand for remote work remains high.
“Hopefully we can find 1,000 people to come and work here,” said Niagara Town Mayor Silvia Virtuoso. He told the Buffalo News.
“I think it's going to be pretty difficult. We're trying to employ people from within the town, but it's difficult and our wages are significantly higher. It's going to be a big challenge.”
Construction cranes are hard at work at the fulfillment center site at 8995 Lockport Road, as a steel framework is erected on the 216-acre site that Amazon purchased last month.
In 2022, local governments approved $124 million in tax incentives to encourage Amazon to build its Niagara facility.
But the grant, said to be the ninth largest Amazon has ever received, drew opposition from residents concerned about traffic congestion the facility would cause and jobs paying $15 an hour that many see as insufficient.
Virtuoso told The Buffalo News it plans to add bus routes to get workers to the site from the SUNY Niagara Community College campuses in Niagara Falls and Sanborn.
“We believe that anyone who wants to work should be able to work,” Virtuoso said.
“A lot of things can change, including wages. We're all on the same page. We know what it takes to employ people, and I think Amazon does too.”
The Post has reached out to Amazon for comment.
The 3.1 million square foot fulfillment center is the first place products are processed before being shipped, and it uses robots to receive, store and ship items purchased by customers through the company's popular website.
Amazon operates three “First Mile” facilities in New York, in Rochester, Syracuse and Staten Island.
Overall, Amazon has built 10 fulfillment and sortation centers and 36 delivery stations across the Empire State since 2010, adding about 47,000 jobs to the state's economy.
Amazon has invested a total of $41.5 billion in New York state over the past 15 years.
In 2019, progressive Democrats in New York City, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, led a public backlash against Amazon's plans to build a headquarters in the Long Island City neighborhood of Queens.
Amazon agreed to build a massive campus along the East River and hire 25,000 people in return for securing tax breaks from the city and state totaling roughly $3 billion.
Then-Mayor Bill de Blasio and Governor Andrew Cuomo supported the deal, arguing that the tax revenue generated by the influx of new workers would ultimately outweigh the incentives offered to the company.
Frustration over tax breaks has led Amazon to abandon plans for a campus in Long Island City, opting instead to expand plans for a second headquarters in Crystal City, Virginia, and further renovate its Seattle headquarters.
