Amazon's Port St. Lucie warehouse is closed until 2028. Here's what happens next.
About 300 workers took severance as Amazon starts a roughly $200 million rebuild that it says will bring back more than 1,000 jobs.
By the numbers
Amazon’s Port St. Lucie fulfillment center closed on Sept. 17 for a major renovation, CBS12 News reported.
Who was affected
- 494 employees were listed on the layoff notice Amazon filed in July
- More than 200 transferred to other Amazon locations
- About 300 were expected to take severance
CareerSource Research Coast and the Economic Development Council of St. Lucie County held job fairs in the months before the closure to connect affected workers with other employers.
What Amazon is building
According to the St. Lucie EDC, Amazon plans to invest about $200 million to renovate and expand the building, adding roughly 870,000 square feet along with advanced robotics and AI capabilities.
- Reopening: second half of 2028
- Hiring: more than 1,000 employees
- Former workers: eligible for rehire when it reopens, the EDC said
Amazon has said customers shouldn’t notice a difference, since other facilities will handle orders during the rebuild.
The bigger question
The closure sparked a local conversation about depending on a few very large employers. St. Lucie County Commissioner Cathy Townsend told CBS12 she’d like the county to be more strategic about the companies it recruits, with more focus on small businesses.
That’s the part of the economy THE 772 covers every week.
Source: CBS12 News, Sept. 17, 2026.
