Eastern Va. Big Deal: Prime location

Doug Smith isn’t surprised Amazon.com has extended its reach in Hampton Roads.

The Hampton Roads Alliance president and CEO says Amazon’s expansion in the commonwealth has been a constant since the global e-commerce behemoth announced in 2018 that it would locate its East Coast corporate headquarters, Amazon HQ2, in Arlington County.

The latest push includes two new Virginia Beach facilities — a fulfillment center and a delivery station — announced in September 2023 that will total $350 million in investments and are projected to add more than 1,100 full-time jobs to Hampton Roads.

Amazon says it plans to open the 219,000-square-foot delivery station at the intersection of Harpers and Dam Neck roads in time for the 2024 holiday shopping season, while the company plans for its robotics fulfillment center to come online in late 2025 in an adjacent space. The announcement is tied for the largest jobs announcement in Virginia in 2023, according to the Virginia Economic Development Partnership. Construction has started on both projects.

“I’ve seen [Amazon] officials say, ‘Now that this is our home, we’re going to invest significantly in our home,’” Smith says. “So, I think you’re seeing that.”

Small items like books, electronics and toys will get picked, packaged and shipped from the 650,000-square-foot robotics fulfillment center.

The announcement is just the latest for Amazon, which counts more than 30 fulfillment centers and delivery stations in Virginia, including this announcement. These will be the first of each for Virginia Beach.

Amazon opened its first Virginia facility in Sterling in 2006, and the Seattle-based Fortune Global 500 retailer has been an ongoing boon for the state’s economy. Amazon has invested more than $109 billion in Virginia since 2010, creating more than 36,000 jobs, according to VEDP. The state is also home to Amazon’s Whole Foods Market, Amazon Fresh stores, Prime Now hubs and Amazon Web Services data centers.

“Virginia is a great state for business,” says Amazon spokesperson Ian Allen-Anderson. “For more than a decade, Amazon has called the commonwealth home and is committed to continuing investments in Virginia with our time, resources and community dedication.”

In addition to the jobs it’s created, more than 11,000 independent sellers in Virginia operate through Amazon’s market place, according to the company, and its investments have accounted for more than 200,000 indirect jobs and $72 billion contributed to Virginia’s gross domestic product since the company opened for business in the state. The company is the fifth largest private employer in Virginia, according to the Virginia Employment Commission.

“Amazon’s cutting-edge fulfillment centers generate major capital investment and thousands of jobs and strengthen Virginia’s position as a logistics industry leader on the East Coast,” Gov. Glenn Youngkin said when announcing the Virginia Beach expansion. “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.”

For Amazon executives, Hampton Roads’ maritime industry and area workforce were globally competitive standouts, says Suzanne Clark, VEDP’s managing director of communications. Amazon’s recent commitments in the region include a 3.8 million-square-foot robotics fulfillment center in Suffolk with 1,500 full-time employees.

Allen-Anderson points to the region’s strong transportation infrastructure and Virginia Beach’s proximity within 25 miles of the Port of Virginia as major factors in the company’s site location.

That comes as no surprise to Smith, whose regional economic development organization worked to secure the Amazon deal alongside VEDP and the city, which last year approved $22.5 million to support public road and stormwater improvements around the project’s location.

“Our basic DNA is we are a maritime industrial economy, and so, you play to your strengths,” Smith says.

The region’s highly trained workforce is no secret to companies like Amazon, Smith says. More than 13,000 graduating college students and 18,000 graduating high school students join the area’s workforce annually, according to estimates from the National Center for Education Statistics.

But unlike other areas with a comparable workforce of recent graduates, Hampton Roads also sees an annual boost from around 12,000 to 15,000 exiting military members — a yearly number that can jump significantly when including spouses and other family members.

“We’re a regional workforce,” says Norfolk Director of Economic Development Sean Washington. “Companies see what it looks like to leverage the whole [metropolitan statistical area]. They look at talent from the whole MSA, which is why we all continue to communicate with our partners in other cities.”