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Amazon is expanding in Virginia Beach.
It's not quite HQ2, like the city was angling for a few years back, but the company plans to break ground this year on a major shipping center that includes a multistory robotics fulfillment center and delivery station.
"We see Amazon’s expanding footprint impacting economic growth and innovation across the Commonwealth, and we will continue to compete for additional investment in Virginia," Gov. Glenn Youngkin said in a press release announcing the expansion.
The delivery station is expected to launch in time for the 2024 holiday season; the robotics fulfillment center is scheduled to open in 2025.
Speculation that the online mega-retailer was behind the facility has swirled for months, as the proposal worked its way through city planning and zoning with a third-party developer. Google Maps even has a pin at the location with the label "Future Amazon Fulfillment Center."
The facility is located south of Naval Air Station Oceana on what is now farmland on either side of Dam Neck Road.
The city of Virginia Beach voted in August to spend $22.5 million to build a new road and improve infrastructure around the site to lure Amazon. According to the city's estimates, the real estate taxes generated from the 3.2-million-square-foot facility will fund those improvements.
Youngkin said the facility will create more than 1,000 jobs in the city, and city documents said those employees will make an average of $17 an hour.
