Amazon broke ground Wednesday on its first robotics fulfilment centre in Nova Scotia, a Burnside warehouse the company says will employ more than 1,000 people full time once it opens.
The building, called YHZ2, will cover more than 2.2 million square feet, or about 200,000 square metres. Amazon says it will be a Generation 14 robotics site, with staff working alongside the company’s most advanced automation.
Premier Tim Houston and Halifax Mayor Andy Fillmore attended the ceremony. “Nova Scotia is open for business, and some of the biggest employers in the world are taking notice,” Houston said.
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“HRM has worked closely with Amazon to bring this project forward,” Fillmore said.
Amazon did not say when the warehouse will open or when hiring will start. Its release also does not say whether the site will offer same-day delivery, saying only that customers in the region can expect faster delivery and a wider selection of products.
The company did not give a wage for the Burnside jobs. Amazon says its average base wage across Canada is $26.27 an hour, with health, dental and vision benefits starting on the first day.
Amazon bought about 82 acres in Burnside for $25.2 million for the project, which has a proposed value of $200 million, commercial real estate firm Colliers says in its latest Halifax industrial market report.
Amazon already runs a delivery station on Thornhill Drive in Dartmouth, which opened in 2021. The company has not said what will happen to it.
Amazon also gave $50,000 to Upward Mobility Kitchens, a Halifax social enterprise. The money pays for 10,000 meals through the group’s Tokens program for people facing food insecurity.