Amazon facility to bring 70 jobs to Scott City industrial park

An Amazon delivery station is planned to open in Scott City later this year.

On Thursday, Feb. 13, municipal officials announced the creation of a 61,000-square-foot Amazon facility. It will be the first site to open at the SEMO Industrial Park along Interstate 55 and is expected to create 70 new jobs. Construction will begin in the coming weeks.

“We are thrilled to welcome Amazon to Scott City. This marks an exciting milestone for our community, as we begin to see the benefits of the work we’ve put into developing our industrial park. The arrival of Amazon is the first of many developments we expect to see in this area, and we look forward to what’s to come,” Scott City administrator Dustin Whitworth said in a news release.

The SEMO Industrial Park is situated at the northern edge of Scott City across I-55 from the Cape Girardeau Regional Airport. Siblings Gregg Erb and Carrie Roider purchased the location in 2016.

The Amazon delivery station will occupy 20 of the industrial park’s 380 acres. The news release described it as a last-mile facility that receives packages from larger fulfillment and sortation centers. Once at the delivery station, the packages are sorted for direct customer shipment.

“I think the proximity of the site to the interstate and to other transportation access here was a really big attractor for Amazon. Obviously, I think the demographics of our community were a driving factor. This will be the first [location] Amazon has in our region,” SEMO REDI chief executive officer Shad Burner said.

SEMO REDI, an economic development group, worked with the City of Scott City, Lorimont Commercial Real Estate and the industrial park’s owners to bring Amazon to Southeast Missouri. Burner said the effort has been in the works for more than six months.

“Amazon looks forward to opening this facility that will provide efficient delivery for customers and new job opportunities for the community as a good employer,” Amazon economic development manager Jason Vangalis said in the news release.

The delivery station will be built at 250 Semo Industrial Drive. It will be Amazon’s 17th operational facility in Missouri and the first in the southeast part of the state. Wages for the customer fulfillment and transportation workers there will start at $17 an hour.

Burner said he, Erb and Whitworth are actively recruiting additional businesses to move to the industrial park.

“This park will still be our marquee industrial site that we will use to recruit businesses into our community,” Burner said.

Construction on the industrial park will be completed by August 2025, with the Amazon facility opening shortly thereafter.