Amazon is getting ready to open its most state-of-the-art robotic fulfillment center in Temple Terrace just in time for the holiday peak season.

"We've been watching this building go up for almost one year," said Mayor Andy Ross. "This is a game changer for the City of Temple Terrace. We couldn't be more excited."

City leaders and reporters got a sneak peek of the new 465,000-square-foot facility on Thursday. It's located at 8727 Harney Road in the 301 industrial park area of the city. 

Amazon needs to hire 1,000 associates to operate the fulfillment center. The minimum pay is $15 per hour and that includes full time benefits that begin on the first day. Amazon will also pay for associates to attend college in high demand career fields with no strings attached.

"We would love for you to get whatever you're passionate about and stay with us. Lots of different types of jobs at Amazon," said Robert Packett, Amazon Regional Director of Operations. "But if you want to go do something else, maybe you want to be a nurse and work at a hospital, we don't care. We support your passions."

The company has invested $1.2 billion for its 300,000 associates to take advantage of the recent program.

The Temple Terrace facility will be the second robotic fulfillment center to serve the Bay Area. The other facility is located in Ruskin and opened in 2014. Packett said the new center will speed up deliveries for Amazon customers.

"Being closer to the customer is the key reason why we're right here," he said. "So, this will allow us to have better prime service and eventually get to same day, which is the fastest potential shipping method that we have with Amazon."

On 4 floors of the fulfillment center there's more than 300 drive robots that can move 18,000 pods per floor. Each drive robot weighs 300 pounds and can carry at least 3-to-4 times more than their weight. The entire system is fully automated.

City leaders and reporters got a sneak peek of the new 465,000-square-foot facility on Thursday. It's located at 8727 Harney Road in the 301 industrial park area of the city. (Josh Rojas/Spectrum Bay News 9)

"We don't actually need humans to be on this side," said Katelyn Ackley, Amazon Deployment Engineer. "Unless, it's for say for some sort of product that spilled to clean something messy or there's an issue mechanically with the drives." 

The Temple Terrace location will be the 8th Amazon robotic fulfillment center in Florida. An exact opening date has not yet been announced.

Job openings will be posted soon on their website: https://search.amazondelivers.jobs/hourly-form