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Amazon to open new distribution center in Garner

A big announcement is expected Friday from the town of Garner, as sources tell WRAL News a new Amazon distribution center will be built on the property that was once home to the ConAgra plant.

Posted Updated

By
Ken Smith
, WRAL anchor/reporter
GARNER, N.C. — Garner city officials announced Friday that Amazon will open a new distribution center on the property that was once home to the ConAgra plant.

"Amazon is coming to Garner!" Mayor Ronnie Williams said during a 10 a.m. press conference.

Officials said it is Amazon's first location in Wake County and the project will bring 1,500 new jobs to the area along with a $45 million payroll.

The changing landscape is a sign of progress for a property on Jones Sausage Road that’s been dormant for almost 10 years. Residents like Jonathan King, who has lived near the former ConAgra site for years, said they’re excited for the change.

“They’re finally doing something with that lot, revamping it. I mean, a name as big as Amazon, it’s always exciting when something like that comes to the area,” King said.

The Town of Garner’s planning commission voted 4-1 last month to approve “Project Axis,” a 680,000 square foot building and 2.6 million square feet of development on nearly 88 acres once occupied by a ConAgra plant where a fatal explosion occurred in June 2009. Two years later, the plant shut down.

The Town Council and the mayor then approved the project unanimously, said Joseph Stallings, the town’s economic development director.

Pushing Axis is Texas-based developer Hillwood, which has been branded as the “Amazon developer” by Virginia Business magazine after Hillwood built an Amazon distribution center in that state. It’s typical for economic development projects that are often negotiated in secret to be given code names.

“You don’t really know until it happens,” neighbor Earl Vaughan said.

The wildcard in the name of progress for some neighbors is the increased traffic in the area, particularly the Jones Sausage Road exit off Interstate 40, which is also an option for shoppers heading to the nearby White Oak shopping center.

“They’re going to put a stop light out here, but that’s not going to end the traffic doing down or the traffic going up,” Vaughan said.

Residents noted that traffic in the area tends to be congested from about 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. and voiced hope that traffic mitigation efforts would be part of the project.

Some other neighbors saw another side to having the potential distribution center so close to home.

“My hope is if I order something from Amazon, they’ll just say, “Come get it,” King said.

North Carolina State University economist Mike Walden said he believes the project is a positive for the region, adding jobs and ancillary spending.

Walden said he doesn’t see a correlation between the potential distribution center and the potential for Amazon’s HQ2 to come to the Triangle.

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