Amazon Warehouse in Montgomery County Officially Announced

Montgomery County Development Authority Director Michael Stanley publicly announced the construction of an Amazon warehouse in Montgomery County during the Board of Commissioner’s monthly work session on May 7.

Specifically, Amazon is constructing a 60,000 square foot last mile delivery center. “Last mile delivery” refers to the final part of the shipping process, where a package is stored and processed before being delivered to a specific address.

“In the chain that stuff goes through in order to get packages to consumers, the last mile distribution center is the last place, where the vans go out and deliver packages,” said Stanley. 

According to Stanley, this distribution center allows Amazon to avoid using third party distribution services and deliver packages directly to customers in Montgomery County and the surrounding areas.

“So, whereas you have facilities, such as the UPS center in Swainsboro, instead of packages that are [sent] through there, now packages in our area will be able to come through [the distribution center], and we’ll directly service us, as well as the surrounding communities,” said Stanley.

Stanley estimated the center will bring between 50 to 100 jobs to the county, including roles such as delivery drivers and floor workers.

The center will be built on Carver Street, just down the road from J & S Produce. According to Stanley, there were some issues concerning the railroad during discussions, which runs alongside Carver Street, but those issues have since been rectified.

“There was an issue towards the end that we were dealing with the past few months where, because the railroad runs right there, we just had to ensure that rightways and everything, that we weren’t going to mess anything up there,” said Stanley.

Amazon will also perform landscaping work on the property with what Stanley describes as “a landscaping package… that would make you blush.”

“Overall, I think it’s going to be a great opportunity,” said Stanley.

As part of the construction process, Amazon will also pave Carver Street to “assist in getting Carver Street up to par,” as the section of the street in front of the construction site is a dirt road.

Stanley estimates construction to be completed by the fall of 2026, which he attributes to the company’s quick construction pace.

“They said that whenever they get to the point where they’re actually getting ready to stand up the building, that you’ll go by there one day, and it’ll just be open,” said Stanley. “And then you’ll go by a day or two later, and there’s a building there, because the progress that they’re able to make is pretty great.”

He also confirmed Amazon did not receive any kind of tax abatement, which will result in more tax revenue for Montgomery County.

While contracts were signed in March, discussions on the project stretch back much further into the tenure of Stanley’s predecessor, Joe Filippone. During this time, the deal with Amazon consumed much of Stanley’s time, with specifics kept under wraps to maintain the security of the deal.

Now that the deal has been finalized, Stanley said he is working with county officials to make development authority meetings more standardized and more transparent to the public. These measures will include an altered meeting schedule and the posting of meeting minutes to the Montgomery County official website.

“I think it’s important that we be transparent to the citizens while still protecting, you know, the confidential information,” said Montgomery County Commissioner Amie Vassey. “So, I was just hoping that the development authority can establish a regular cadence for meetings, post their schedule on their website, post their meetings on their website at a bare minimum.”