Amazon’s Treasure Coast customers can expect to receive their orders faster once the online retail giant sets up a delivery center in the Kings Highway Industrial Park near Fort Pierce.
The Bee Electronics building, 7440 Commercial Circle, is being expanded and the 6-acre site’s driveways and parking lots modified to accommodate the Amazon delivery center.
The industrial park offers easy access to major highways, sitting just 1.5 miles from Interstate 95’s Orange Avenue interchange and 3.5 miles from the State Road 70/Okeechobee Road interchange on Florida’s Turnpike.
County Administrator Howard Tipton last week said the delivery center would reduce the time it takes for Amazon Prime to provide goods to local purchasers.
“It is set up as the last step between your Prime purchase and your doorstep,” Tipton said in an emailed statement. “Faster times for delivery means stuff gets to us faster.”
It’s the latest major economic development project for St. Lucie County, which touts itself as being “business-friendly.”
County commissioners in the past year approved expansions at the Pursuit and Maverick boat manufacturing facilities and leased the Indian River Terminal property to Derecktor shipyards for a mega-yacht service center.
Those projects are benefiting from lucrative county job growth incentives and/or other government grants.
However, Amazon did not request any government subsidies for the delivery center project, Tipton said. “(The) company apparently wanted to come in under the radar and they succeeded,” he said.
Amazon is expected to hire as many as 200 workers at the delivery center, mostly part-time employees earning $15 per hour.
Port St. Lucie and the Economic Development Council of St. Lucie County set the stage for the deal in October 2017 when the city applied for Amazon’s North American headquarters project.
Port St. Lucie’s 217-page sales pitch to Amazon heralded the city’s rapid growth and location midway between Miami and Orlando. The same could be said for neighboring unincorporated St. Lucie County.
“With over 300,000 residents and a business-friendly environment, St. Lucie County is a natural fit for Amazon’s business model,” Tipton said.
The highway access and the growth potential at Treasure Coast International Airport are bound to attract other distribution operations to St. Lucie County, Tipton said.
“Our geographic position, road networks and population growth – along with future plans at Treasure Coast International Airport – will have St. Lucie County in the mix for logistics expansion discussions on into the future,” Tipton said.
