Amazon to Open 8th Tennessee Fulfillment Center

Project Pearl. Rendering courtesy of Hillwood

Amazon has announced plans to open a 634,812-square-foot fulfillment center in Alcoa, Tenn. Dubbed Project Pearl, the development will break ground in 2022 and lead to the creation of an estimated 800 new jobs. Hillwood will be the developer for the Ware Malcomb-designed project.

The asset will be Amazon’s eighth fulfillment center in the state and the third to harness robotics technology. The property be used for the picking, packing and shipment of smaller customer items, from books and electronics to consumer goods. The company’s existing Tennessee footprint includes fulfillment and sortation centers in Charleston, Chattanooga, Lebanon, Memphis, Murfreesboro and Nashville, while plans for an 855,000-square-foot Mt. Juliet facility were unveiled last July.

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Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development Commissioner Bob Rolfe pegged Amazon’s overall investment in the state at approximately $1.5 billion, creating 25,000 jobs. The past year’s announcements alone could generate 3,000 new jobs, Governor Bill Lee projected.

While other real estate sectors have faced challenges in the past year, the industrial sector has flourished. CommercialEdge’s latest industrial report shows that 228.4 million square feet of industrial space was delivered at a national level last year, the largest number to be recorded this century.