Amazon.com, Inc. said Tuesday it closed on a deal to buy land in Fall River for a 1-million-square-foot fulfillment center.
"Construction on this new facility will begin in the coming weeks and the fulfillment center will join our package sortation center in Stoughton in helping to speed delivery times for our New England customers," Braden Cox, director of US public policy for Amazon, told reporters Tuesday at Amazon's Kendall Square office.
Pre-construction activities, such as land clearing, are already taking place, Amazon said.
The state's Economic Assistance Coordinating Council voted in March to give Amazon $3.25 million in state tax breaks in return for the fulfillment center in Fall River and Freetown.
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The center, located in the SouthCoast Life Sciences and Technology Park, will create 500 permanent positions that Amazon promised in March will last a minimum of five years, and as many as 2,000 seasonal and part-time jobs, in return for the tax breaks. Of the $3.25 million in tax breaks, $1 million is a job creation credit, which the company is allowed to sell for cash. The remaining $2.25 million is a so-called "enhanced expansion project" credit.
"Our collaboration and partnership with Amazon is a good example of where the state has worked with, and will continue to work with, companies and help them meet their needs for everything from tax incentives to training new employees to permitting so that they can continue to grow in the Commonwealth," Governor Charlie Baker said.
Cox did not provide a timeline on the hiring process for the fulfillment center, but said the Internet retailer currently has more than 100 openings for high-skilled positions at the Kendall Square office and at Amazon Robotics in North Reading.
The Seattle-based company originally signed a letter of intent in October 2014 to spend $200 million to build its first fulfillment center in the Commonwealth that would create 1,000 permanent jobs and hundreds of temporary and part-time positions. By March 2015 Amazon said the fulfillment center would cost just $50 million and only employ 500 full-time workers at an average wage of $35,000.
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Unemployment in Fall River was at 7.8 percent in April, compared with 4.7 percent statewide. Kenneth Fiola Jr., the executive vice president of the Fall River Office of Economic Development, told the Globe's Dan Adams in March that residents overwhelmingly support the construction and look at Amazon as a company that will provide some job security.
Amazon also received $2.89 million in local tax breaks in 2014 and the Economic Assistance Coordinating Council granted Amazon $600,000 worth of state tax credits to build a warehouse in Stoughton.
Amazon doesn't have a definitive timeline on the completion date of the fulfillment center, but Fiola said in March the company hopes to open the facility by fall 2016.
Jessica Geller can be reached at jessica.geller@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter at @jessicageller57.