Construction crews work at the site of a new Amazon Fulfillment Center in North Las Vegas, Wednesday, Dec. 2, 2020.
Wednesday, Dec. 2, 2020 | 4:28 p.m.
Amazon is expanding in the Las Vegas valley again.
The online retailer announced today progress on eight new buildings in Nevada, including a massive fulfillment center in North Las Vegas that broke ground in October.
Four of those buildings are operational and four are expected to open next year.
Amazon projects the sites will create more than 2,000 permanent jobs with a $15-per-hour starting pay and benefits.
“I think that Amazon’s presence in the state is indicative of our partnership with the state and with the people in the community,” said Perry Williams, Amazon general manager of fulfillment. “We’re interested in expanding in this community. We’re interested in taking advantage of adding additional workforce.”
Williams stood in the parking lot of Amazon’s fulfillment center near Las Vegas Motor Speedway. It is across the street from the construction site of an 855,000-square-foot facility set to open next year. It will be Amazon’s second site in Nevada to utilize robotics to help sort, pack and ship products.
Amazon opened its first Nevada facility in 1999, a distribution warehouse in Fernley that relocated to Reno in 2015.
Since that first building more than 20 years ago, Amazon has opened 11 buildings in Nevada. That number will rise to 15 upon completion of its newest initiative next year.
Most of those 15 facilities are or will be in Southern Nevada, including delivery stations in Henderson and Las Vegas, in addition to the North Las Vegas fulfillment center.
“This is welcome news for the entire state of Nevada,” Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak said in a statement. “Amazon continues to make investments to support local communities and has become a lifeline for those in our state who have experienced job loss during the pandemic.”
Amazon says it employs 10,500 people across its 11 Nevada locations, which include fulfillment and delivery centers, a corporate office and Whole Foods Markets.
The company said it invested $3.8 billion in the state in the last decade and contributed an additional $3 billion to the state’s economy, including indirectly creating more than 7,600 additional jobs through its investments.
“Amazon is proud to continue investing in the state of Nevada,” Alicia Boler Davis, Amazon’s vice president of global customer fulfillment, said in a statement.
“We’re excited to create more than 2,000 new full- and part-time jobs across the state with highly competitive pay, benefits from Day One and training programs for in-demand jobs,” she said.
