Amazon Brings 1,000 New Jobs To Baltimore
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- A thousand new jobs will soon be coming to Baltimore City. Amazon is set to open its new warehouse in the next few months and it's expected to have a big impact on the entire southeast Baltimore community.
Meghan McCorkell has more as Amazon starts operating in the city.
Amazon is starting to hire for those warehouse positions and city officials say they want those jobs to stay in Baltimore.
Construction on Amazon's one million square foot warehouse in south Baltimore is still underway but soon it will be complete and a thousand workers will be hired to fill positions in the new fulfillment center.
The mayor is working to make sure Baltimore City residents get the bulk of those jobs.
"The skill levels that are required for this job will give more people opportunity," said Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake.
A career fair will be held next week.
The warehouse along Broening Highway is set to be up and running by the spring. The site was once home to General Motors, which closed in 2005. For local businesses, Amazon can't open soon enough.
"I can go back to the 60s when Western Electric shut down," said Bob Romiti. "Leaver Brothers, GM, Ford Holabird...they all went."
He has seen this neighborhood transition. His family has served up food at Squire's Restaurant for 63 years. He says Amazon moving in has already increased his business and had a huge impact on infrastructure improvements across the area.
"With all these companies, you need trucks and trucks need good roads," Rimiti said. "Really good roads."
Over at Jimmy's Famous Seafood, seeing the massive warehouse go up nearby has inspired hope for the future.
"Just driving by that place every day and seeing nothing but pretty much cornfields for 10, 15 years, it's definitely boosted morale in the area," said owner John Minadakis.
Now they hope Amazon will deliver up jobs while delivering more dollars to the community. Businesses say they are already seeing a small boost from people already working at the Amazon warehouse.
People interested in applying for the Amazon jobs can attend that career fair on Feb. 3 and 4 at the Eastside One Stop Career Center. The application fair will be held from 9 a.m. to noon and then 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. both days.
