Already proposing a 1.3 million-square-foot warehouse in Connecticut’s Quiet Corner, Amazon is now looking to build a 1.1 million-square-foot distribution center less than a half hour to the south. The world’s largest online retailer wants to use part of a 170-acre tract in the Occum section of Norwich for an operation that would have 58 loading docks and 422 trailer-parking slots along with 729 employee parking spaces. In its pitch to the city, Amazon held out the lure of new jobs and tax revenue. The company estimated its Norwich fulfillment center would create the equivalent of 500 full-time jobs, and said its average hourly wage around the country is $23. Amazon also emphasized that its similar facilities nationally are assessed at more than $150 million, which could generate several million dollars a year in new tax revenue for the city. The company said construction would generate another 200 temporary jobs. The location is in the 185-acre Occum Industrial Park, a property Norwich has designated as a center for jobs growth. That could reduce community opposition, which often is triggered by proximity to homes. Amazon is planning a much smaller facility in Goreham, Maine, for instance, but this summer hit local resistance because the site is alongside a neighborhood.
Amazon looks to build second mega-center in eastern CT, promising 500 jobs
