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Amazon will open a distribution center in Onondaga County, County Executive Ryan McMahon announced at a media briefing on Monday.

Anand Mehta, Amazon’s regional director of operations, announced in a video message that the distribution center will bring over 1,000 jobs to the central New York region. The facility will open in September 2021 at a warehouse in Clay, McMahon said.

“We are confident that Amazon will be not a good neighbor but a great neighbor,” McMahon said. “This is a big win in a very very tough time.”

The facility will be the second largest warehouse in the world, McMahon said.

The distribution center will occupy the land formerly belonging to the Liverpool Public Golf and Country Club. While residents have long speculated that Amazon would take over the planned warehouse space, McMahon said the county did not finalize the lease for the distribution center until sometime within the last two weeks.

Amazon has already started to market jobs in the region. The new jobs will help recover some of the economic losses Onondaga County has sustained during coronavirus pandemic, McMahon said.

Mayor Ben Walsh expressed excitement at bringing a third major corporation to the central New York area, following JP Morgan Chase and Microsoft. Although the distribution center will not be located in Syracuse, Walsh said he sees the warehouse as a “pathway out of poverty” for the city.

Rep. John Katko (R-Camillus) said the project will bring both short- and long-term economic growth to the region.

“It’s going to have a dramatic impact on the city, a dramatic impact on the county, and a dramatic impact on the region,” Katko said. “There are not a lot of places right now announcing thousands of new jobs.”

Published on May 18, 2020 at 5:58 pm

Contact Mira: mlberenb@syr.edu