The City of Oxnard last week announced a partnership with Amazon, the global internet retailer, to open a new fulfillment center at the Sakioka Farms Business Park in Oxnard. Located just off the
101 freeway between Rice Avenue and Del Norte Boulevard, the Amazon project will bring more than 1,500 jobs with benefits to Oxnard when the company launches the facility next year.
“This is a transformational project for the Sakioka property and highlights the strong economic opportunities in Oxnard,” said Mayor Tim Flynn. “We have been engaging with Amazon in a variety of ways and it’s exciting to see the company now come to build and hire in the City.”
Mayor Pro Tem Carmen Ramirez said, “This couldn’t have come at a better time given the pandemic and the economic downturn. The opportunity to provide reliable jobs with great benefits to more than 1,500 people is a win for the entire community.”
“We are excited to join the community and create more than 1,500 new, full-time jobs with industry-leading pay and benefits at our newest fulfillment center in the state of California,” said Andre Almeida, regional director of Amazon Operations. “This facility will utilize Amazon Robotics, with 24 years’ worth of technological innovations. We are grateful for the support we have received from the city and local leaders who have helped make this project possible.”
For years the Sakioka property has been viewed as a potential site for a business park that could attract major employers to Oxnard. The 430 acre property is one of the last large pieces of land in the City with the potential for development. In the past 9 months, City staff worked with the property owners to approve the subdivision of the Sakioka property and related entitlements that allows the transformation of the property for business use, including the approvals for the new Amazon fulfillment center.
“We’re grateful for the Sakioka family’s time and effort to bring this opportunity to the City,” said Councilman Bryan MacDonald. “It’s been a complex process, but the dedicated work and collaboration between the City, the Sakioka family, and Amazon have brought a great company to Oxnard that will pave the way for more business developments.”
City staff partnered with Amazon to quickly work through the permit process to advance the project. With the anticipated opening of the fulfillment center next year, the offering of new jobs and additional revenue provides the economic vitality needed to jumpstart economic development opportunities within the City of Oxnard.
“As a result of the dedicated work of the City Council, the Planning Commission, and City staff, we are opening our doors to one of the world’s largest companies,” said City Manager Alexander Nguyen. “Our teams have worked hard to drastically improve the permitting process and provide the necessary engineering and building safety code checks in order to ensure we can bring the great job opportunities Amazon provides to our community.
Construction of the fulfillment center is expected to begin this month and is anticipated to be fully operational by the end of 2021.