AUBURNDALE, Fla. (AP) — Online retailer Amazon is announcing plans to open a new distribution center in central Florida creating about 500 full-time jobs.
The retailer said in a statement Wednesday that employees will pick, pack and ship large items such as patio furniture, kayaks, bicycles fishing rods and pet food at a 1 million-square-foot facility in Auburndale, Florida.
Pay will start at $15 an hour with benefits.
Amazon currently employs more than 13,500 full-time workers in Florida.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said the new distribution center was a “big win” for Polk County.
The county is part of Orlando’s metro area which had the nation’s fifth largest increase for metropolises from mid-2017 to mid-2018. Tens of thousands of Puerto Ricans moved to the Orlando area after Hurricane Maria devastated the island in 2017.