The Cedar Rapids Gazette reports that e-commerce giant Amazon is about to expand it's presence in Iowa by building a new 2.9 million square foot fulfillment center in Davenport. The move will create over 1,000 permanent jobs in the Davenport area, according to the Quad Cities Chamber of Commerce.

Work of the fulfilment center is set to begin right away. The structure will be built north of Interstate 80 and west of the Davenport Municipal Airport. It will be Amazon's second, and largest fulfillment center, in the state of Iowa. The company opened a 640,000 square foot center in Bondurant, outside of Des Moines, last December. The new Davenport center is expected to be up and running in 2022.

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While this is great news for the city of Davenport, what are the odds that Cedar Rapids could add a facility like this, or somewhere nearby, in the near future? The Gazette reports that Ron Corbett, with the Cedar Rapids Metro Economic Alliance, says that Cedar Rapids city officials and officials with The Eastern Iowa Airport have meet with Amazon and other e-commerce companies in hopes of attracting them to property near the airport or elsewhere in the Cedar Rapids area.

Officials say the Davenport center will add at least 1,000 jobs, but the hope is for closer to 1,500. Amazon and other e-commerce companies have seen profits soar as consumers have taken to online shopping during the COVID-19 pandemic. Amazon alone added 500,000 employees in 2020. They have a total global workforce of 1.3 million employees.

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