Amazon may have announced last week that it’s no longer interested in building a distribution center in Brno, but some city leaders are still hoping to woo the US e-retail giant. This latest twist comes after Brno deputies flip-flopped on letting Amazon move forward with plans to develop a massive 100,000 sqm warehouse in the city’s Černovická terasa industrial zone. There were enough city deputies concerned over increased traffic and discrepancies in the master plan for the area to reject Amazon’s proposal four times before top Czech politicians intervened and managed to get the plan passed. However, Amazon appears to have wearied of the saga, as the company’s PR manager, Karel Taschner, told Czech TV that the company no longer wants to invest in the site. Amazon had earmarked CZK 2.7bn into its Brno warehouse which would have created 1,500 new jobs.
Brno Mayor Roman Onderka still hopes to change Amazon’s mind and plans to continue negotiations with CTP, which has been hired to develop Amazon’s CEE distribution hub. CTP’s contract with the retailer is valid until the end of 2014. “The project has not ended for us until Amazon signs a contract with someone else for another plot,“ says Tomáš Budař, regional manager for CTP Invest.
