Amazon plans new warehouse, distribution center in Springfield Township
Online retailing giant Amazon is planning a 99,800-square-foot, $30 million warehouse and distribution center in Springfield Township, with a public meeting on the project planned for later this month.
The center would be built on 24.6 acres along Pickton Parkway and Pickle Road and includes plans for extension of Pickton, according to planning documents obtained this week. The site is located in an Akron-Springfield Township Joint Economic Development District.
There will be no entry and exit from the facility on Pickle Road. Plans include more than 400 parking spaces for Amazon delivery vans.
A public meeting on the project is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. May 29 at the township hall.
Smaller in scale compared to 2021 plan
Amazon currently operates a warehouse and distribution center on Romig Road in Akron at the site of the former Rolling Acres Mall. The four-story facility has 2.5 million square feet of space.
The new Springfield plans represent a scaled-down version of the proposal Amazon had developed in September 2021. In a zoning commission meeting on Sept. 15 of that year, the online retailer had proposed a 141,000-square-foot delivery station that would have included a 54,000-square-foot canopy.
Residents at the 2021 meeting had expressed concerns about traffic on Pickle Road and noise levels.
Qualified support from current, past trustees
Former trustee and lifelong Springfield resident Dean Young, who attended the 2021 meeting, said Thursday the new proposal could benefit the township if residents' concerns have been addressed.
"I think it offers the promise of additional employment for residents of the township that would like to get an opportunity close to home," he said.
The Romig Road Amazon facility employed more than 5,000 individuals by March 2022, but the Springfield operation would probably employ a small fraction of that.
In the new plan, the extension of Pickton would feed traffic to Massillon Road/state Route 241. Young said the benefit of the center for the township would rely in part on the cost of Pickton maintenance.
"Amazon assuming some responsibility for the road within the industrial complex itself is important," he said.
Trustee Jeremy Caudill said the Amazon facility could be a big win for the township.
"Overall, it would be a huge step for Springfield gaining a business the magnitude of Amazon," he said. "...We could probably go to them for a lot of community things."
Caudill said the company's current plans address key concerns expressed by residents in the 2021 meeting.
"It seemed like they went down through every concern they (residents) had and they addressed (them)," he said. "Access off Pickle Road — they took that out of the equation."
Akron plays key role in Amazon's JEDD project
Brad Beckert, business retention and expansion manager for the city of Akron, said Amazon is planning for at least 150 new jobs at the new site.
It’s a “last-mile facility,” he said, meaning products will be brought there from semi-trucks, then sent to customers.
With the Amazon located in the JEDD, the city of Akron will provide water services to the site and collect income taxes from the business’s employees, Beckert said. He added that Summit County will provide the sewer services.
Leave a message for Alan Ashworth at 330-996-3859 or email him at aashworth@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @newsalanbeaconj or Facebook at www.facebook.com/alan.newsman.Patrick Williams covers growth and development for the Akron Beacon Journal. He can be reached by email at pwilliams@gannett.com or on X, formerly known as Twitter, @pwilliamsOH.
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Amazon plans warehouse, distribution center in Springfield Township
