Amazon to Build Air Cargo Facility in Florida

By Paul Owers

Amazon is planning a $100 million air cargo facility in Florida that will bring as many as 1,000 jobs to the city of Lakeland, east of Tampa, Florida.

The Lakeland City Commission has approved a ground lease that calls for the retail giant to lease 47 acres of a 110-acre parcel in the northwest corner of Lakeland Linder International Airport at 3900 Don Emerson Dr. Construction on the planned 283,000-square-foot complex is due to begin in July and take about a year to complete, city spokesman Kevin Cook said in an interview.

The company intends to create between 800 and 1,000 jobs, 200 of which will be considered “high-skill, high-wage,” positions, Cook added. The rest would be cargo and warehouse positions, he said.

Under terms of the lease, Amazon will pay monthly rent of $80,651, with rent increasing 7.5% on each five-year anniversary date, according to a memo to the city commission from the city attorney’s office. In addition, Amazon will pay a landing fee of 85 cents per 1,000 pounds for each operation, along with a “fuel flowage fee” of 3 cents per gallon, the document stated.

The ground lease is for 20 years with three 10-year options to renew. An Amazon spokesman did not immediately return an email seeking comment.

Lakeland, a city of about 110,000 residents, is located in Polk County, a largely agricultural area. But the economy is more diversified in Lakeland, the headquarters for Publix Super Markets, a grocery powerhouse in the Southeast.