LAKELAND, Fla. — Lakeland city commissioners signed off on a deal Monday to bring a $100 million Amazon air cargo facility to Lakeland Linder International Airport.

Airport director Gene Conrad started to believe the airport might be able to snag the Amazon facility back in 2015. 

“Well, I think Amazon at that time had started flying their own cargo, and they called us," Conrad explained. "Actually Airborne Express, one of their operators."

“And they said 'can you handle large aircraft here?'" he went on. "And we said, 'we can handle large aircraft here, but we don’t have buildings or facilities for you to operate in and out of."

That’s because all of the airport’s other facilities were filled with businesses. But the city had already started work on a $17 million air cargo site in hopes of attracting customers. 

When Amazon started getting serious about an air cargo facility in the center of Florida, Lakeland Linder was ready. It simply reconfigured its plans to meet Amazon’s needs. 

“We were able to entice them to be here because we started this work and received the environmental approvals and the green light from the FAA to move forward," said Conrad.

Keeping the deal quiet during negotiations was tough. 

“It was the worst best kept secret in Polk County and the city of Lakeland for quite some time,” said Conrad. 

Conrad said Amazon was expected to start construction on its facility this summer and it could be open with a thousand jobs in the summer of 2020.