DAVENPORT, Iowa — After a delay of more than a year, Amazon is hoping to open its Davenport facility by August 2023, according to Amazon and a Quad Cities Chamber representative.
“Amazon plans to open in August with the goal of hiring 1,000 employees. The Chamber recently helped facilitate a meeting with different workforce partners, including state workforce agencies and higher educational institutions in the region to provide an update on the positions they will be hiring at the Davenport facility," Tami Petsche, Vice President, Business & Economic Growth, said in a statement to News 8.
An Amazon company spokesperson confirmed the timeline of opening in August and that hiring will begin this summer.
The distribution center was originally scheduled to open in September 2022. In late May 2022, an Amazon spokesperson announced the opening was going to be delayed until at least 2024.
At the time, the delay was blamed on "unforeseen circumstances" by the Chamber, citing that Amazon was experiencing supply chain issues.
During the Scott County Board of Supervisors committee of the whole meeting on May 9, Quad Cities Chamber Senior Vice President of Business and Economic Growth Julie Forsythe was asked about the status of the center's opening.
"We're told that they're going to be hiring and they hope to open by August of this year. And so they have reached out to workforce partners. We've helped facilitate meetings and so they're looking to have 1,000 people hired, from what I understand I think that's their target, by August of this year," Forsythe said.
Amazon chose to develop its facility in the Eastern Iowa Industrial Center located in the northwest Davenport industrial park near Northwest Boulevard and Interstate 80.
When the original plans were announced in July 2021, construction was estimated to cost $250 million for the 640,000 square feet across 158 acres of land.
Originally dubbed "Operation Scrabble," the robotic distribution center was Davenport's "secret" operation expected to create around 1,000 full-time jobs once fully operational, Davenport Mayor Mike Matson said in a July 2021 interview.
