CLAY, N.Y. — Amazon’s (NASDAQ: AMZN) new robotic-fulfillment center at 7211 Morgan Road in Clay is the company’s largest facility in New York. That’s according to Jennifer Cruickshank, Amazon head of New York public policy and community engagement for the Seattle, Washington–based ecommerce giant. She made the comment to open the June 23 formal-opening ceremony. […]
CLAY, N.Y. — Amazon’s (NASDAQ: AMZN) new robotic-fulfillment center at 7211 Morgan Road in Clay is the company’s largest facility in New York.
That’s according to Jennifer Cruickshank, Amazon head of New York public policy and community engagement for the Seattle, Washington–based ecommerce giant. She made the comment to open the June 23 formal-opening ceremony.
The five-story, more than 3-million-square-foot center has been in operation since early May, Irfaan Hafeez, Amazon site leader for the Clay center, tells CNYBJ.
The center currently employs 1,500 people with plans to hire more, according to Cruickshank.
“We’ve got so many opportunities here … so many different types of jobs for the people of this community,” she adds.
The Amazon employees are working with the latest robotic technology, Hafeez said to open his remarks during the opening ceremony.
The event attracted company officials and local dignitaries who gathered for the opening event outside the entrance to the Amazon location, which the company refers to as SYR1.
“An aging golf course has brought new vitality into the Syracuse [area],” Damian Ulatowski, Town of Clay supervisor, said to open his remarks.
He was referring to the Liverpool Public Golf and Country Club, which previously operated on the property where the fulfillment center now operates.
He went on to explain that the project started as an idea to help stimulate the economy in this part of the state and bringing “an efficient way” to deliver consumer goods to residents in the Northeast.
Ulatowski also believes employers from various industries will want to position themselves “close to this new frontrunner.”
“And it is already happening as we’ve seen interest in vacant warehouse space becoming occupied again on neighboring streets and Steelway Boulevard,” Ulatowski said, referring to a nearby street that has both a North and a South location that are home to several companies.
Onondaga County Executive Ryan McMahon publicly announced Amazon was coming to Clay in May 2020. It followed what he called a “highly competitive process for this project.”
“What we’re talking about has been over $400 million invested in our community by arguably the greatest logistics company in the world and one of the best technology companies in the world,” McMahon said at the June 23 event.
He also noted that Amazon invested more than $1.75 million for robotics and computer-science technology improvements at the upcoming STEAM school in downtown Syracuse
STEAM is short for science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics. The STEAM school will be housed at the downtown building that was previously home to Central High School. Known as the Greystone building, it was last used as a school in 1976.
Amazon also provided funding for Syracuse Jazz Fest, McMahon added. The event was held the final weekend in June in downtown venues and in Clinton Square.
