- June 21, 2025
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You don’t get to be one of the largest companies on the planet by being careless. And whatever you may think of Amazon, one thing the company isn’t is cavalier about is its operations.
Attendees at Urban Land Institute’s 2025 Florida Summit, held at the Hyatt Regency Coconut Point in Bonita Springs, got a rare glimpse of one of those operations at the June 9-10 conference: A peek into how the company goes about choosing where it will build its distribution centers.
That glimpse came in the form of a presentation from Sam Blatt, a senior manager for economic development policy for Amazon.
“I help with the site selection for our facilities," he said in his speech, "and then help with the admin and permitting, and basically serve as the liaison between Amazon, the company and government and policy makers, economic development organizations, chambers of commerce.”
“I cannot help you with your package,” he joked. “I don't know where it is, but if there is an answer in the community, I can help you with that if it's related to one of our Amazon facilities.”
In Florida, Amazon currently operates more than 70 facilities, employs more 52,000 people and has invested more than $3 billion.
(Neither Blatt nor Amazon respond to a request for a list of the facilities in the state or the Business Observer's nine-county readership area.)
Amazon has three different types of facilities in its delivery process. It is sort of a hub system where suppliers deliver packages to a fulfilment center. The center then sends it out to a sortation center, which then delivers it to a delivery station, which then sends it by truck or contractor to customers.
According to research from Capital One, in 2023 Amazon processed 5.9 billion orders in the U.S. alone. That breaks down to 16.16 million delivery orders per day or more than 673,500 per hour, the bank says.
That year, the company’s net sales from shipping and delivery were an estimated $27.7 billion, up 15.6% from the previous year.
Amazon is deliberate when considering whether it needs to build a new facility. It looks at four factors when deciding where to expand: Consumer demand, is there an adequate workforce, is there a site available and will it be able to build on that site.
Clarity when dealing with local officials is also key to the process. A short no is better than a long maybe, says Blatt.
“I'd rather you tell me up front, ‘We don't have the political will to want to change the zoning, we’re not actually going to be able to do this in time for you to open,’” Blatt says.
“Maybe you don't want to lose the project, or you want to try to be supportive, which I understand, but I'd rather you tell it to me straight and be candid.”
What the company doesn’t like is surprises. It wants to understand a locality’s process so it can be prepared for what’s coming next.
As for those outside government looking to work with Amazon on finding a site, Blatt says they should know what the key sites are for commercial development as well as understand what that inventory is and the community’s vision for those pieces of property.
In an ideal world, the best sites are shovel ready and there is connectivity with utility companies.
“This next one is kind of controversial, but I think it's actually really important to have some assets that are publicly owned, or economic development organization-owned properties that you can dictate the terms on how you want that to be used,” Blatt says.
One big reason for that is it is simpler, as a buyer and developer, to work with a single, committed entity as the project goes through permitting and the land sale process.
Blatt encourages those who have a property they think will work for Amazon to get it zoned appropriately and start submitting a site plan before making an approach.
One facility Blatt directly referenced in his speech is a new fulfilment center coming to a site on State Road 82 near Interstate 75 in Fort Myers. It serves as a case study of sorts, he says.
That center will total 3 million square feet. Construction on the 189-acre property has begun with the foundation being laid and concrete set to pour in a matter of weeks.
Amazon paid $66.5 million for 143 acres of the property last year.
Blatt focused on the fulfillment center not because it was nearby, but because it illustrated the ideal situation Amazon looks for when trying to find where to build.
The company first talked to the city of Fort Myers about building on the site in 2020. Blatt says that’s when Covid was in full swing and people were turning in large numbers to Amazon.
That began to ease, and the company stepped back around 2021. It came back to Fort Myers in 2023 and announced the center in November 2024.
Blatt says when Amazon first talked to the city there was a concern about water pressure at the site and when it came back the issue had been fixed.
That may not seem like much, but he says it’s indicative of what Amazon needs from localities when selecting a site. In addition to the water pressure, when it came back Blatt says zoning was in place and the city’s leadership was on board “and working with us.”
“They had everything ready to go.”
And that, after all, is all one of the biggest and richest companies in the world could ask for.
