Knoxville Sees Sustained Business Growth as Amazon Facilities Await Launch Date
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WATE) – No matter where you look, Knoxville is growing.
Axle Logistics more than doubled its employee target in its first five years and continues to grow. The Amazon delivery center on Knoxville Center Road is still under interior construction and the facility is expected to be up and running in the near future.
The Knoxville Chamber of Commerce said the job growth seen in Knoxville is good for the community.
“We work very closely, first and foremost, with our existing businesses to help support their expansion opportunities and pursue their expansion and growth opportunities,” said Knoxville Chamber of Commerce Vice President of Economic Development Doug Lawyer. “Every now and then we have companies from outside that think about opening a new location in our market. This is important because it continues to validate for us on a local and regional level that we are doing the right things in our community.”
One of them is Axle Logistics, a company that participated in a city/county program to help finance its new headquarters in North Knoxville. The company committed to creating 263 jobs in its first five years, a number that has more than doubled in less than five years.
“Over the next 3 to 5 years, we intend to continue to grow our team,” said Ali Fraley of Axle Logistics. “We operate on organic growth, while everything continues on the rocket ship we are on, as we call it, we should have 1,200 employees in the next 3-5 years. We are extremely excited to have our entire team back at Central.”
More than three years after Amazon announced plans to open a delivery facility at the former Knoxville Center Mall site, construction on the building remains underway.
“Our delivery station in Knoxville continues to be a big part of our plans for the area,” an Amazon spokesperson said in a statement. “Once interior construction is complete at this facility, we will have a better sense of the launch schedule.”
Amazon decided to build in Knoxville without any incentives from the city or county and plans to open in the near future, bringing hundreds of jobs to the area.
When trying to market the city to potential companies, Lawyer explained that not all companies want the same thing.
“Some may be driven by the real estate sector. Some may be powered by public utilities. Some may be driven by the workforce,” said the lawyer. “We are kind enough to try to gather as much information as possible and position our community and ensure they fully understand how your company can integrate into our ecosystems here.”
With a major university in the city’s backyard, companies have plenty of talent to choose from.
“UT is definitely our top recruiting spot,” Fraley said. “We have a three-credit Axle Logistics course in the Haslam College of Business that we just completed our third semester with, so our ties to UT are really strong.”
Axle Logistics is currently constructing an 85,000-square-foot building next to its current headquarters to accommodate the company’s growth.
As for Amazon, we’re told the company will begin hiring for the Northeast Knoxville facility 30 to 60 days before it opens. However, no release date has been determined.
