“Can we get a hallelujah, amen?” asked Shreveport Mayor Tom Arceneaux at Friday morning’s gathering of Amazon’s team working to get the Shreveport facility called SHV1 on line. He got one. Arceneaux was not the only person to be delighted about the reason for the gathering at the Regions Tower conference center in downtown Shreveport.
District A council representative Tabatha Taylor, in whose district the 2.5 million square foot Amazon robotic fulfillment center sits, said she is excited about the opportunities, good wages and excellent employee benefits, and called it “a win for Shreveport with more to come.”
“Business owners within our city will have an opportunity to partner with Amazon,” Taylor told us. “This will help grow their business and increase our tax base.” Taylor admitted that she will be doing a little “gloating” at the Shreveport City Council meeting coming up June 24 and 25.
Taylor and Arceneaux were just two in a room filled with elected officials or their representatives, parish and city representatives, and economic development and chamber of commerce executives. All were there to meet SHV1 general manager Abhishek “Abhi” Gowrishankar.
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Gowrishankar, who has been with Amazon for roughly five years, he told the Shreveport Bossier City Advocate that this opening “is not his first rodeo.” He has opened another Amazon facility before and was brought in to deal with the many details to get SHV1 up and running. The opening, he said, will be in August.
The five-floor, 2.5 million square foot facility at 1625 Corporate Drive in north Shreveport will process thousands of shipments daily, for a total of three million customer shipments per week.
The opening has been long-awaited and much-anticipated, not only for the prestige that such a facility brings, but the jobs and ongoing investment. Gowrishankar rattled off some of those numbers- over $2 billion invested in Louisiana since 2010, and $1.9 billion added to the state’s gross domestic product.
Jobs postings will be going up soon on the Amazon website and hiring will begin in July. The plant will employ over 1,000, many at a salary of $17.50 per hour. Several local management team members are already on the payroll and have been traveling to other Amazon fulfillment facilities to learn skills to bring back to Shreveport.
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Gowrishankar said most employees will receive “great benefits” on day one. Those will include healthcare, dental and vision coverage, 401K with 50% company match and up to 20 weeks of paid parental leave. Full time associates who have been employed for 90 days will be able to participate in a “career choice” program that provides full college tuition.
The company will be actively seeking north Louisiana higher learning partners for career choice but he said degrees will also be available via LSU online. “We’re proud to bring this technology and jobs to Shreveport and for us to be able to make a meaningful and positive impact to the community.”
“We’re very pleased to be here,” he said. “We’re almost there!”
Fun Amazon Facts
Shreveport Chief Building Official Mike Sepulvado says the perimeter of the 2.5M square foot building is one mile. His inspectors have walked multiple miles inspecting the five floors and the roof over the course of the construction.
Builders Supply President and CFO Carlton Golden said the Amazon plant required 130,000 yards of concrete. See why his dad Grady was concerned about the huge project.
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