Amazon to land in Shawnee, put more than 100 jobs there

Amazon is fanning out on the Kansas side of the metro area with its latest location in Shawnee, where the online retailer is expected to employ more than 100 workers.

The Shawnee City Council on Monday approved an agreement with the developer of the WestLink Business Center and Amazon to lease about 80,000 square feet in one of the warehouse and distribution buildings on 43rd Street near Kansas 7.

It’s a smaller presence for Amazon than the distribution centers it has planned in Edgerton and in Kansas City, Kan., each of which is expected to hire more than 1,000 workers.

But that’s fine with Shawnee officials.

“When we can get new jobs, 100-plus, we are very pleased about that,” said Linda Leeper, president of the Shawnee Chamber of Commerce.

Airtex, a manufacturer of heating, ventilation and air-conditioning systems, started developing warehouse buildings in Shawnee on a speculative basis in 2013. The company has planned four buildings in the WestLink Business Center, each covering 170,000 square feet. So far, the company has constructed two of those buildings.

With Amazon’s lease, both buildings in the WestLink Business Center are nearly fully occupied.

This story was originally published March 1, 2017 at 4:36 PM with the headline "Amazon to land in Shawnee, put more than 100 jobs there."