Amazon to build giant facility in Carencro and create 500 jobs

By Wesley Muller
Contributing Writer

(lailluminator.com) — Amazon plans to build a one million square-foot fulfillment center in Carencro next year, Gov. John Bel Edwards announced last week.

The facility, the first fulfillment center for Louisiana, will be located at a 12-acre site formerly home to an Evangeline Downs racetrack near the junction of Interstates 10 and 49 in Lafayette Parish. It will serve as a warehouse hub where employees will pick, pack and ship bulky or larger-sized items such as patio furniture, outdoor equipment and rugs.

The governor said the project amounts to a $100 million capital investment and will create 500 direct jobs on-site with an annual payroll of more than $16 million. In exchange, the state offered the online mega retailer a $3 million performance-based grant payable over two years.

“Amazon, thank you so much for choosing to invest in our state,” Edwards said during a public video conference Tuesday. “This really is exciting. This is going to be more than a treat for all the people in Lafayette and the Acadia region that will benefit from this.”

Amazon anticipates a completion of the fulfillment center in Carencro by the end of 2021. Hiring of new employees is expected to begin one to three months prior to the launch of operations, according to a Louisiana Economic Development press release.

Louisiana Illuminator (www.lailluminator.com) is an independent, nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization driven by its mission to cast light on how decisions are made in Baton Rouge and how they affect the lives of everyday Louisianans.

This article originally published in the December 28, 2020 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.