IE Business Daily Business news for the Inland Empire.
Amazon can’t get enough of the Inland Empire.
The online retail giant, which already operates five fulfillment centers in Riverside and San Bernardino counties, announced Wednesday that it will open a sixth mammoth warehouse-distribution center in the region, in Eastvale.
About 1,500 people are expected to work in the building, which covers about one million square feet in the Goodman Commerce Center Eastvale project near Ontario’s New Model Colony development, Mayor Ike Bootsma said.
The project, which will eventually be surrounded by retail and commercial development, is expected to be fully operational before November.
“One of our biggest problems is that we’re a commuter city and we don’t get a lot of midday traffic,” Bootsma said. “That’s kept us from getting sit-down restaurants and some other kind of retail. This is a step toward changing that.”
Eastvale will receive no sales tax revenue from the project, but it will get revenue from property tax and several other sources. How much it will get can’t be determined until the project is up and running, Bootsma said.
Amazon plans to hire as many local residents as possible to work at the facility. Eastvale officials are working with Amazon to hold at least two job fairs in the city this summer, possibly in June or July, Councilman Adam Rush said.
