Amazon To Expand VA Presence With New Robotics Fulfillment Center

HENRICO COUNTY, VA — Amazon plans to build a new robotics fulfillment center on a 119-acre site at the Richmond Raceway in Henrico County, Gov. Ralph Northam announced Wednesday. The facility, the first of its kind in central Virginia, is expected to open in 2022.

The company will build a multi-story, 650,000-square-foot facility with robotics technology at the site, adding more than 1,000 new jobs to Amazon’s existing workforce of 27,000 full- and part-time employees in the state.

More than two years ago, Amazon announced it had picked Arlington County as the site for its second headquarters, or HQ2. The company is looking to accommodate as many as 25,000 new workers in Arlington in the coming years.

“Amazon continues to demonstrate confidence in Virginia by expanding and reinvesting in our Commonwealth,” Northam said Wednesday in a statement. “This new robotics fulfillment center in Henrico County is the latest milestone in the growing partnership between Amazon and Virginia, and reinforces our standing as both a technology hub and a leader in supply chain management.”

Amazon launched its first Virginia fulfillment operations in 2006 in Sterling. Since then, the company has grown its operations to include more than 10 fulfillment and sortation centers and delivery stations across the state.

In addition to the company’s Arlington headquarters, Amazon has 13 Whole Foods Market locations across the state and three Prime Now Hubs.

In March 2020, Amazon announced a robotics fulfillment center in Suffolk and a processing center in Chesapeake. Both facilities are expected to open later this year.

Since 2010, Amazon’s investments have created more than 52,100 indirect jobs in the state — jobs in areas such as construction and logistics — in addition to the company’s Amazon’s direct hires, the governor’s office said.

The Virginia Economic Development Partnership worked with the Henrico Economic Development Authority, The Port of Virginia and the Greater Richmond Partnership to win the Henrico County project.

Amazon is eligible to receive benefits from the Port of Virginia Economic and Infrastructure Development Zone Grant Program, as well as the Virginia Enterprise Zone Program, administered by the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development. Funding and services to support the company’s employee training activities will be provided through the Virginia Jobs Investment Program.

Arlington County provided a $23 million incentives package for Amazon to build its new headquarters in the county. And the state approved $750 million in incentives for the HQ2.