Officials with the City of Davenport, along with the Quad Cities Chamber and Greater Davenport Redevelopment Corporation (GDRC), announced in a press conference Wednesday morning that Amazon is building a 640,000 square-foot robotics fulfillment center in Davenport that will create 1,000 full-time jobs.

“We are excited to continue our investment in the state of Iowa and look forward to creating 1,000 new, full-time jobs,” said Caitlin Polochak, regional PR manager, Amazon. “The site will help us continue to serve customers with great delivery options. We appreciate the support from state and local leaders who have made Amazon’s growth in Iowa possible.”

The facility will be located in the Eastern Iowa Industrial Center along Interstate 80 on Research Parkway just west of North Division/155th Street.

“The City of Davenport is excited to welcome Amazon to the Eastern Iowa Industrial Center,” Davenport Mayor Mike Matson said. “Their investment in our community shows that Davenport is the ideal place for companies to locate and grow businesses. We look forward to this project adding to the vibrancy of our local economy.”

The project began in November 2020 when a site selection firm contacted the Quad Cities Chamber looking for land in the bi-state region for an unknown client.

“After one of the region’s potential sites was selected, the Chamber connected the project with the appropriate city, state and other resources,” said Paul Rumler, President and CEO of the Chamber. “It takes many partners to assist a project of this magnitude and this is a perfect example of how great collaboration works.”

Rumler added that several factors went into Amazon choosing the Quad Cities, including “the region’s central Midwest location, the easy access to their customers via our interstates, the availability of a large greenfield site ready for immediate construction and access to a laborshed of 743,000 individuals including a pipeline of workers with the skill sets needed for their operation.”

The GDRC negotiated with the Shriners Hospitals for Children, who owned the land, to eventually acquire the property for development by Seefried Industrial Properties, Inc., based in Atlanta.

“This transaction was a ‘win-win,’ in that, it enables Shriners to further their mission of providing care to sick children while providing GDRC with a property that will be developed by Amazon and provide jobs and economic growth for many years to come,” said Jason Gordon, GDRC Chair.

The City of Davenport has also agreed to upgrade street infrastructure leading to the new facility and other improvements to accommodate the increased traffic in the area, including:

• Reconstruction and new turning lanes on north Division Street adjacent to the project site.
• Intersection improvements at Hillandale Road & Research Parkway with the Eastern Iowa Industrial Center.
• Intersection improvements at the center’s entrance at Northwest Boulevard & Hillandale Road.
• Intersection improvements at Northwest Boulevard & West 76th Street.

The improvements will cost approximately $3.9 million. The City of Davenport applied to the Iowa Department of Transportation’s Revitalizing Iowa’s Sound Economy grant program to cover 60% of the cost.

This will be the second robotics fulfillment center built in the state of Iowa.

The 1,000 jobs created by the facility will provide employees with at least $16 per hour and comprehensive benefits.

Crews are already doing site work preparing for construction to begin later this summer. The site is expected to open in 2022.

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