Amazon creating more jobs in Chattanooga

Friday, January 1, 1904

It was exciting news when Internet retailer Amazon announced plans to build huge distribution centers in Hamilton and Bradley counties. After all, the project promised thousands of jobs in our area -- in a time of economic distress when those jobs were (and are) sorely needed.

But the good news from Amazon has just gotten better.

The Chattanooga distribution center is slated to get vastly larger to keep up with the sheer volume of items it handles.

At present, the local facility is approximately the size of 17 football fields. Its floor space is expected to grow, however, to the size of 28 football fields in a project that starts this month, the facility's general manager, Sanjay Shah, told the Times Free Press.

That will mean hundreds more jobs, officials with Seattle-based Amazon said.

The success of the high-tech distribution center at Chattanooga's Enterprise South industrial park is evident from the recent Christmas shopping period. The building -- roughly the size of Hamilton Place mall -- handled a remarkable 9 million items during the Christmas shopping season, and it already runs seven days a week, 24 hours a day.

We welcome the excellent economic news of Amazon's local expansion, and the big benefits it will have for our people, as well as for the company.