Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Paul Rumler says the 1,000 new jobs, and hundreds of indirect jobs, will boost the local economy by 148 million dollars a year.
"How that shows up is that you're going to have construction crews from local companies building this, you're going to have suppliers providing equipment that's being installed, and then servicing that equipment. Then think about the people who work there - at minimum 16 dollars an hour is the starting wage."
Rumler credits the Quad Cities location, along several major highways, and available workforce - from Cedar Rapids and Dubuque to Galesburg - for Amazon's decision.
Davenport Mayor Mike Matson says collaboration by local and state governments, plus local business and economic groups, convinced Amazon to locate here.
"Being able to convince a company of Amazon's size or stature to come to - when they look at the midwest, think of all the places they could look at and they chose this place."
Rumler thinks more companies will consider the Quad Cities, thanks to Amazon.
"Amazon choosing this is going to be a calling card for the Quad Cities region to say, look we're right, we do have the transportation network, you can get throughout the midwest from Minneapolis to St. Louis to Chicago and beyond, on the great interstate system that goes right through the Quad Cities area."
Site work has already started, and construction should start later this summer. Completion is expected next year.
