Inside the e-commerce giant's arrival in Gaylord
Craig Manning April 20, 2024
One of the world's largest companies has set up shop in Northern Michigan.
In January, details of Amazon's plans to build a new fulfillment center in Gaylord were revealed. Since then, the e-commerce giant and its contractors have been hard at work building a new 42,500-square-foot facility that will occupy eight acres of land in the Gaylord Industrial Park and is expected to open for business by the end of the summer. .
What does the arrival of this famous big company mean for Gaylord and Northern Michigan as a whole? And could the region see other Amazon facilities in the future or court other similar big players? Is there a possibility that it will happen? northern express I'll take a look.
arrival of amazon
It was state Rep. Ken Boughton (R-Gaylord) who announced that Amazon would be coming to his hometown. On January 11, Mr. Bolton's office issued a press release sharing the news and touting the potential economic and community benefits for Gaylord.
“Amazon coming to town means a lot of new jobs and a lot of money coming into the local economy,” Bolton said. “We're talking about a huge facility that employs a lot of people. But it's not just jobs. The people who work there are going to have to buy a house. Then they're going to have to buy their children. They will attend our schools. They will shop at our grocery stores and eat at our local restaurants. Think about how projects like this impact our communities. The more I think about it, the more excited I become.”
Lisa McComb, executive director of the Otsego County Economic Alliance, said Amazon had been “looking for properties in Traverse City and Gaylord” well before the January announcement.
“When they realized this opportunity, [to purchase property in the Gaylord Industrial Park], they moved forward very quickly,” she says. “After that, we were all under non-disclosure agreements until the deal actually closed. [the property]Therefore, none of us who knew what was potentially going on could say anything. ”
The City of Gaylord and the Otsego County Economic Alliance established the Gaylord Industrial Park in the early 2000s as part of a way to attract large businesses to Otsego County. McComb points out that the location of the park, and of Gaylord as a whole, makes it an ideal location for shipping, logistics and e-commerce companies. This industrial park is located 1 mile west of Interstate 75, 2 miles south of M-32, and right next to Gaylord Regional Airport, making it a convenient location for moving your belongings.
“We have a lot of infrastructure here, which makes it very favorable to invest in things like fulfillment centers and distribution centers,” McComb said. “There's a big FedEx factory in the same industrial park that Amazon is building. He has another FedEx facility operating in another industrial park in Gaylord. He also has UPS and a few other companies. We use this as a regional distribution route.”
economic impact
What exactly does Amazon coming to town mean for Gaylord in the long run?
McComb said that once the new facility is built, Amazon is expected to support 200 jobs, including “both full-time and part-time” positions. The facility has already brought some jobs to northern Michigan. McComb noted that Traverse City's Team Elmer's was asked to do “all excavation and tree cutting and removal” on the eight-acre site where the new building will be located.
Construction on Amazon's new facility is progressing rapidly and is expected to be operational within the next few months, McComb said. “The exterior is complete, the lights are in and the connection to the city’s water and sewer system is complete,” she says. “So they told me they are progressing at a fast pace and will have it working by mid-summer.”
McComb said Amazon's investment in Gaylord and some recent large business developments in the area are good signs that Otsego County is on the upswing.
“We are very fortunate in Otsego County to have two large businesses open in the first quarter of 2024 alone,” McComb said. “Menards is going to bring 250 jobs to the area. They currently have about 180 people in place. And Hobby Lobby has about 25 new jobs coming in. Then this Amazon… Add 200 jobs at the facility. [other businesses] It's already in development, but I can't talk about it yet. All of this will grow our community and provide competitive jobs. ”
McComb continued, “We are currently experiencing significant private investment in Otsego County. We already have 11,000 people working here, 8,000 commuters, and that number is only going to grow.”
McComb acknowledged that the downside is that growth “increases critical needs for housing and child care.”
Bolton recently shared on his Facebook page that Amazon plans to begin recruiting for positions at its new Gaylord facility “later this summer,” and asked interested job seekers for a “notification that applications are now open.” He added that people can sign up for job alerts at hiring.amazon. .com.
What's next?
More Amazon jobs could be coming to the area in the near future: Although the facility is a distribution center, McComb said northern express “We have plans to establish an Amazon fulfillment center somewhere in northern Michigan in the future.”
For reference, in the world of e-commerce, distribution centers and fulfillment centers play different roles in the pipeline that transports goods from suppliers to end consumers. According to a blog post for Traverse City's own eFulfillment service, a distribution center is typically “the hub of a supply chain where products are received from suppliers and then delivered to retail stores or other fulfillment centers.” Fulfillment centers, on the other hand, are the cogs further down the supply chain that are responsible for actually fulfilling and shipping orders to end consumers and processing returns.
Last fall, traverse city ticker, northern express Our sister publication broke the news that a new e-commerce facility will be built in Traverse City's Blair Township. Construction plans were submitted to the Grand Traverse County Construction Code for inspection. ticker It showed a new facility planned for US-31 west of Menards.
Amazon's name was not officially mentioned in the document, which was named “Project Northstar” and referred only to the new “tenant,” but listed developers, architects, Details of the project were listed, including a schematic diagram of the civil engineering company and “.” The “last mile” distribution centers, complete with delivery vans, were all similar to other Amazon facilities in the Midwest. Amazon has built a number of facilities across Michigan in recent years, including a massive 850,000-square-foot, $150 million fulfillment center in Kent County.
Last-mile delivery services are often provided by third parties, such as FedEx, UPS, United States Postal Service (USPS), or other entities that typically deliver Amazon packages to your doorstep. Amazon also contracts with local post offices to provide last-mile service, so on Sundays he can often see USPS mail trucks delivering Amazon packages.
But Amazon is increasingly building its own local hubs that provide last-mile services in-house, with the aim of getting orders to customers faster. The Last His Mile facility in Blair Township would, in theory, serve this purpose in the Grand Traverse area.
Amazon has not yet confirmed that its Blair Township facility will become one of its local last-mile hubs, but signs continue that the e-commerce giant will increase its presence in Traverse City. Some recent Amazon job postings on job sites like Talent.com and The Ladders include positions such as delivery drivers, warehouse staff, shoppers, and fulfillment staff, and list Traverse City as a location. I am.
Photo courtesy of Congressman Ken Boughton.
