Amazon is building third center in state

PATTERSON -- Amazon's announcement that it will build a distribution center in Tracy hasn't tempered enthusiasm for the project under way here.

"It wasn't a total surprise," City Manager Rod Butler said. "We're pleased for the region."

Butler and Mayor Luis Molina said they knew the online retail giant was looking for a third California site. Amazon recently opened a distribution center in San Bernardino in Southern California, and a 1-million- square-foot center is under construction here in the West Ridge Business Park off Interstate 5.

According to The Record of Stockton, the Amazon fulfillment center in Tracy is expected to employ 1,000 people and contribute roughly $1 million in tax revenue to the city each year. It's planned on 70 acres in the city's Northeast Industrial Area.

Tracy Mayor Brent Ives told The Record that the Patterson center focuses on bulk distribution, while the one in Tracy will make use of advanced robotics and offer better-paying jobs.

Amazon won't say how many people will be employed at the Patterson center when it opens next spring, putting the number only in the hundreds. In information provided to Gov. Jerry Brown's office of business and economic development, the online retailer estimated 350 jobs at its Patterson site, though officials noted that Amazon often expands distribution centers once it opens them.

-- The Modesto Bee