Amazon Spent Mega-Millions In Florida To Expand Its Distribution Capabilities In The States

Subscribing to Amazon Prime gets you plenty of perks, and one of the biggest is access to the retailer's Prime shipping. Amazon has invested billions of dollars in real estate for warehouses and trucking facilities to expand the global reach of the popular service, but its latest investment is a particularly significant one. According to the Ocala, Florida StarBanner, Amazon spent $97.675 million to purchase a gigantic new property in the city of 70,000 between Orlando and Gainesville. The warehouse and distribution facilities on NW 44th St. cover more than a million square feet, and Amazon's purchase includes the 91-acre lot. This represents the largest real estate sale in Marion County in 2025, and the facility sits just across I-75 from an existing Amazon fulfillment center.

Amazon has already changed the way that many people shop online, and its fast Prime shipping has forced many other retailers to play catch-up and offer similar options. The new mega warehouse in Ocala is a notable step in Amazon's plan to expand Prime delivery even further, but there's more to the process than simply accumulating real estate.

In April 2025, Amazon announced that it was investing more than $4 billion to improve its distribution capabilities in rural areas of the U.S. The company's main goal is to improve delivery speeds for customers in small towns, so it plans to open new delivery stations around the country and expand its network of private delivery companies and individual contractors. Amazon claims that its Delivery Services Partner (DSP) program has generated as much as $50 billion in revenue and created more than 200,000 jobs and that the expansion will generate half again that many new positions. The expansion should also allow for buyers in around 13,000 zip codes to purchase 300 million different items with faster Prime delivery than before. 

Products from virtually every department are covered by Prime shipping, so buyers can browse everything from these good Amazon power tool buys to the latest smartphones and smart TVs. In addition to the new Ocala warehouse and delivery stations, Amazon is aiming to expand its hub delivery program that enlists small businesses to deliver Amazon packages during their slower operating hours. The company's stated goal is to build its rural delivery network to be able to distribute a billion packages a year over an area of over one million square miles.