3.2M-sq.-ft. Amazon fulfillment center rises on Waterbury-Naugatuck border

A 3.2-million-square-foot Amazon warehouse is rapidly taking shape on a hillside straddling the Waterbury-Naugatuck border, with completion expected next year and employment projected to reach about 1,000. Waterbury Economic Development Director Joseph McGrath said the project reminds him of an earlier era, when the city’s once-powerful brass mills employed thousands of people at sprawling industrial complexes operating around the clock. Those mills helped form the foundation of Waterbury’s past prosperity. McGrath said the Amazon facility will provide a major economic boost by adding to the tax bases of both municipalities, creating jobs that can support households and give young people an entry point into the workforce, and generating new activity for local businesses. “Once they are fully operational, they will start using the local vendors for gasoline, for tires, for oil changes, for lunches,” McGrath said. “From an economic development perspective, it’s going to benefit the immediate surrounding area, the entire city and surrounding towns.” Breaking the impasse At roughly 130 feet tall, the Amazon facility represents Waterbury’s largest single development project in terms of jobs and tax revenue since the Brass Mill Center mall opened in 1997. Construction began last October on the 157-acre property, which Amazon purchased from the city of Waterbury for $2.5 million following years of planning and deliberation. Waterbury owned the land, which extends into Naugatuck. Decades of efforts to develop the wooded site had failed because of its steep terrain and limited access. Former Waterbury Mayor Neil O’Leary and Naugatuck Mayor N. Warren “Pete” Hess eventually broke the impasse by agreeing to jointly pursue development of the site using access through a Naugatuck industrial park. Waterbury received proceeds from the land sale, while the two municipalities agreed to evenly split the development’s property tax revenue. Bluewater Property Group, a privately held industrial real estate company focused primarily on logistics properties in the Northeast, is leading the project. The facility will serve as a “first-mile” fulfillment center, where products are stored and prepared for shipment. The multilevel building will use Amazon’s latest robotics technology. More to come The project adds to Amazon’s already significant presence in Connecticut. According to its most recent economic impact report, Amazon has invested more than $12 billion in the state since 2010, including spending on infrastructure and employee compensation. The company employs about 15,000 people in Connecticut and estimates that its investments support another 10,000 indirect jobs in construction, logistics, professional services and other industries. Amazon reports operating six fulfillment and sortation centers, 10 delivery stations, 13 Whole Foods Markets and seven on-site solar installations in the state. That footprint is poised to grow. Amazon is building a 218,310-square-foot warehouse on about 200 acres at 35 Bacon Road in Enfield, a site it purchased for $20 million last year. Two other Amazon facilities are being pursued in eastern Connecticut. In Killingly, Minneapolis-based Ryan Companies is seeking to build a 1.37-million-square-foot Amazon robotics fulfillment center. That project hit a roadblock in August when the town’s Inland Wetlands and Watercourses Commission rejected the developer’s application. Ryan Companies has appealed the decision to Superior Court. Bluewater, meanwhile, is seeking land-use approvals for a roughly 1-million-square-foot Amazon distribution facility in Norwich’s Occum Industrial Center near Interstate 395. Amazon said the proposed Killingly and Norwich facilities would each create about 500 full-time jobs.