Interior work on the $40 million Amazon distribution center in Slidell, originally expected to open in 2022, should begin during the first quarter of next year, Slidell Mayor Greg Cromer said.
What’s more, Cromer said Amazon representatives have told him the center could begin hiring in the second or third quarter of 2024, and hope to be operational by next year’s Christmas season.
“They are full-steam ahead in ’24 is what they’re saying,” he added.
While the building is largely finished, its interior still must be outfitted with racks, conveyors and other equipment, a months-long process, Amazon says.
In an email, Amazon public relations manager Steve Kelly confirmed that interior work at the 140,000-square-foot facility “is slated to begin sometime in 2024.”
But Kelly was less specific about when the distribution center would be up and running or when any hiring would begin.
“Regarding an actual launch date, the status quo remains right now — once construction is completed, we’ll have a better idea of a formal launch schedule,” he said in the email.
Amazon announced the Slidell center in 2021, with the online retail giant initially targeting a 2022 opening, but it was pushed back to early 2023, then again to 2024.
While Amazon has never made its hiring plans public, Slidell officials said the center would create 250-400 jobs. Amazon has not publicly discussed the reasons for the delays in Slidell, but has continued to say the $40 million on Town Center Parkway near Old Spanish Trail remains it its future plans.
Amazon is also in the midst of building and outfitting a huge, 3.4-million-square-foot logistics hub in Baton Rouge at the site of the old Cortana Mall. During an April tour of that $200 million facility, company officials said they expected it to be operational in mid-2024.
The Baton Rouge site has also had delays that have pushed back its opening.
The announcement in March 2021 that Amazon would build a distribution site in Slidell made a big splash for St. Tammany elected officials and economic development leaders. It is exactly the kind of business that the parish has worked to lure in recent years — logistical and manufacturing operations that hire hundreds of workers.
Cromer said he often fields questions about the Slidell Amazon facility from constituents, many of whom want to work there. He says he has little new to offer them, except that as far as elected officials and economic development leaders are concerned, the company still has Slidell in its long-term plans.
“I’ve got no reason not to believe it,” he said. “They’re (Amazon) all singing the same tune.”
Also, he said, Amazon has done a good job maintaining the distribution center, so the city has no complaints on that front.
Chris Masingill, who heads the parish’s economic development agency, St. Tammany Corporation, said delays are often part of the process.
“We see the Amazon folks, we stay in contact,” he said. “About once a quarter we check in” for progress updates.