Amazon.com won the green light to build-out its last-mile delivery center at the former Kmart store along Blanding Boulevard at a project cost of $12 million.
The city issued a permit March 19 for Bryan Builders LLC of Longwood to renovate the 103,317-square-foot building at 4645 Blanding Blvd. for a package-delivery service.
The internet retailer intends to hire about 200 people for the project.
City Council enacted Ordinance 2019-0877-E on Feb. 11 to rezone the 11.36 acres to permit the use.
The bill changes the zoning from commercial community general-2 to planned unit development to allow a 111,718-square-foot center, with vehicle staging.
The Kmart store has been vacant for seven years. Blanding Self Storage LLC owns the site. Amazon intends to lease it.
The Seattle-based e-commerce company wants to open more last-mile delivery facilities in the Jacksonville area.
“They’re very active in Florida and hope to continue to grow in Northeast Florida and continue to look for sites,” said Amazon Logistics representative Patrick Krechowski, a Jacksonville land-use attorney, in January.
Amazon Logistics reports on its website that it is expanding its network of delivery providers with its “last mile revolution.”
The center is described in the Nov. 20 written description of the Blanding Boulevard Planned Unit Development.
It says the project proposes 129 delivery van spaces, 231 standard car spaces and eight accessible spaces, totaling 368 onsite parking spaces. Amazon is likely to secure nearby property for additional parking or delivery vehicle staging, Krechowski said.
The written description says the distribution facility will receive line-haul truck deliveries of packages that are sorted by routes and placed into delivery vans.
Krechowski said Amazon uses a combination of its vans and those contracted with local fleet operators.
Sorting will take place during two shifts: 11 p.m.-6:30 a.m. and 8 a.m. to 1 p.m., with about 65 employees per shift.
Another 10 full-time supervising managers will be staggered during the two shifts.
From 7 a.m.-1 p.m., delivery vans will be loaded with packages and depart from the property in groups of about 35 vans in 30-minute intervals. About 175 delivery vans will depart the property in a 24-hour period.
The vans return “in waves” seven to nine hours later, emptied of undelivered packages and returned to their storage space. Drivers will park their personal cars on the property to commute to work.
Amazon operates four centers in Jacksonville – two large fulfillment centers in Northwest and West Jacksonville; a sortation center in Westside Industrial Park; and the North Jacksonville delivery center.
It also plans a sixth presence with a heavy-freight delivery center at 2780 Lloyd Road in West Jacksonville.
