A ribbon-cutting Monday marked the official opening of Amazon’s massive Richmond Fulfillment Center, which started operations in October. (Jonathan Spiers photos)
A pair of back-to-back events in Henrico on Monday capped a trifecta of economic announcements for the county over the past week.
Gov. Glenn Youngkin and other state officials joined Henrico administrators and company representatives in celebrating the opening of the massive Amazon distribution center near Richmond Raceway, as well as the completion of the second expansion in three years of bottling company Coca-Cola Consolidated’s plant in Sandston.
The events followed the announcement a few days earlier of another economic win for Henrico and Virginia: a $10 million investment by Tucker Door & Trim to establish a manufacturing facility at 2700 Distribution Drive, in the Airport Distribution Center off Laburnum Avenue.
Virginia competed with Georgia for the facility, which will open by April 1 and expand Tucker Door’s capacity and northeastern reach, according to a release.
Acknowledging the developments at the Amazon event, the second of the two facility tours held Monday, Youngkin told attendees: “The Henrico County Board of Supervisors is busy today.”
Gov. Glenn Youngkin and other officials were given a tour of the Amazon facility. (Photo courtesy Amazon)
The Amazon event included a ribbon-cutting and tour of the 2.7 million-square-foot facility, which officially opened Monday but has been operational since October.
Referred to by the company as its RIC4 fulfillment center, the massive distribution facility uses robotics technology designed to assist employees in sorting, packaging and shipping smaller goods such as books, electronics and household items. Amazon opened a similar facility in Suffolk in 2021.
The Henrico facility – previously referred to as Project Speedway for its proximity to the race track – has created over 1,000 full-time jobs and is big enough to fit 46 football fields, said Ammar Ahmad, the fulfillment center’s general manager. The five-story, 100-foot-tall structure is unmissable along Richmond Henrico Turnpike, where it fills the bulk of a 120-acre site that the raceway sold in 2021.
The massive facility is unmissable along Richmond Henrico Turnpike.
The facility is the largest building in Central Virginia, according to the Henrico Economic Development Authority. In his remarks Monday, Youngkin agreed, calling it “the largest building I’ve ever seen in my life.”
“It is enormous! Forty-six football fields? We would need 92 teams,” Youngkin said, drawing laughter from the crowd. “The volume of what goes on in here is truly astounding.”
Youngkin is shown the facility’s robotics technology that helps employees move and sort goods. (Photo courtesy Amazon)
“We’ve been waiting for this package for quite some time,” added Sen. Lamont Bagby, who described the building as a boon for an area that’s been a focus of revitalization efforts by the county and in need of a grocery store in particular.
“This is going to help with that,” he said.
The center is the first of its kind in Central Virginia, and one of several across the country that Texas-based Hillwood Enterprises has developed with the online retailer signed on as a tenant. Hillwood, led by Ross Perot Jr., bought the raceway site at 5901 Richmond Henrico Turnpike for $7.7 million. A dollar figure for the building was not provided.
Clark Construction Group was the contractor on the project, working with Northern Virginia-based Shirley Contracting Co. Design firm Ware Malcomb was the architect.
Bottling plant completes $50M expansion
Youngkin and Virginia Commerce and Trade Secretary Caren Merrick take a tour of Coca-Cola Consolidated’s warehouse.
Earlier in the day, officials converged on the bottling plant in Sandston, where Coca-Cola Consolidated recently completed the second of two expansions that amount to a $50 million combined investment in the facility at 500 Eastpark Court.
The 326,000-square-foot manufacturing plant and 210,000-square-foot distribution center underwent a $23 million expansion in 2021 that added 3,000 square feet to the manufacturing building and included new equipment and production capabilities, specifically a blow-mold line for bottle production. The expansion added 40-plus jobs at the Sandston plant, which totals about 500 employees.
Since then, the 63-acre campus was further enhanced, increasing its production capacity from 500,000 to 1.25 million cases. Other improvements included a new canning line with upgraded LED lighting that’s expected to cut energy costs.
The 63-acre campus near Sandston is visible along Interstate 64. (Photo courtesy Coca-Cola Consolidated)
Noting the company’s presence in Henrico since the late 1980s, Varina Supervisor and Board Chairman Tyrone Nelson said Monday: “These back-to-back, sizable investments show Coca-Cola Consolidated’s deep commitment to operating in Henrico County for the long term, and we couldn’t be any more thrilled with that plan.”
The publicly traded company purchased the facility in 2016 from a subsidiary of The Coca-Cola Co. Headquartered in Charlotte, Coca-Cola Consolidated operates separately from the soft drink brand and is the largest independent Coca-Cola bottler in the country and trades on NASDAQ under the ticker symbol “COKE.”
It has eight facilities in Virginia, including a 350,000-square-foot distribution center in Chesterfield’s Meadowville Technology Park, where it also made improvements in recent years.
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