NORTH HAVEN — Amazon, the largest internet-based retailer in the world is expanding its presence in Connecticut, creating 1,800 job opportunities, announced Gov. Malloy.
Amazon, which recently opened a fulfillment center in Windsor and a sorting center in Wallingford, currently employs approximately 2,000 people in Connecticut.
According to the company, 1,500 of the jobs will be full-time and seasonal opportunities will also be available.
Gov. Malloy said the addition of the 855,000 square foot North Haven facility, will increase to approximately 3,800 Connecticut-based employees.
“This is a significant win for our state’s taxpayers and our economy. Amazon’s $255 million investment to expand operations in Connecticut is proof positive that when we work with companies and bring our collective ingenuity to bear, we deliver on creating jobs for the hardworking residents of our state. With plans to nearly double their Connecticut workforce – growing another 1,800 jobs on top of the 2,000 employees they currently have in the state – Amazon’s decision to open third facility here is a testament to the high quality and productivity of our workforce,” said Gov. Malloy.
Amazon’s North Haven center will be located at 415 Washington Avenue, the 168-acre property formerly utilized by Pratt & Whitney that has been vacant for over 15 years.
“Five years after announcing our first fulfillment center in Connecticut, we’re excited to open a new, state-of-the-art fulfillment center in North Haven, creating more than 1,500 full-time jobs that offer wages 30 percent higher than traditional retail roles and include comprehensive benefits on day one, bonuses and stock awards. We’ve found an abundance of talent in Connecticut’s workforce, and we are so happy to have this opportunity to expand in the state to serve customers,” said Akash Chauhan, Amazon’s vice president of North America operations.
Connecticut leaders expressed that they feel the incentives provided to the company helped them pick North Haven.
The Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development’s First Five Plus Program allows the company to be eligible to earn up to $15 million in tax credits if certain job creation and capital investment milestones are reached. If the company passes job targets, it could earn even more.
The town of North Haven and the company agreed on local incentive packages in a town meeting, Thursday, making the transaction official.
North Haven First Selectman, Michael Freda, said those packages include a property tax phase-in over seven years, which was passed by a town ordinance. This is on real estate property only. The personal property in the facility will be fully taxable once it’s up and running, according to Freda.
Another incentive agreed on, is reducing the approximately $2 million building permit fee by 50 percent.
“By offering that incentive the town still yields an incremental one million dollars in building permit fees which is about double what we normally do every year anyway,” he said. “The advantage of offering the incentives was to help bring in new business and the net incremental tax revenue on both the personal property, the real estate property, and the building permit fees is approximately $5 million a year on an average for the town of North Haven.”
Freda said construction could begin in a week and once started it will take an anticipated 14-18 months to complete.
