Amazon plans to open a fulfillment center in North Portland next year, creating 1,000 full-time jobs as it rapidly magnifies its Oregon footprint.

Monday's announcement was the retail giant's third in as many months specific to Oregon. Amazon also is opening fulfillment centers in Troutdale and Salem in 2018.

All told, the three sites will employ about 3,500 in the state.

"Amazon could invest anywhere in the world, and they are showing over and over again that they believe Oregon is the place to build, innovate and grow," Chris Harder, the director of state economic development agency Business Oregon, said in a statement.

Amazon said workers at the new facility will pack and ship large items like sports equipment, gardening tools, and pet food. The company said the Portland center will allow faster delivery to metro-area customers, particularly members of its Prime subscription service.

The company has dramatically ramped up its warehousing and distribution presence across the country as it seeks to reduce shipping costs and times. In some markets, including Portland, it offers delivery of some products in a matter of hours, not days.

The announcement comes as Seattle-based Amazon is shopping for a second headquarters. More than 101 cities, states, provinces and counties in the U.S. and Canada – including Portland and Vancouver, Washington -- have already signaled plans to bid on the $5 billion project and the 50,000 or so new jobs that come with it.

The Port of Portland commission signed off on the latest deal last month. The 918,400-square-foot facility, at 15000 N. Lombard St., is in the Rivergate Industrial District, a Port property.

The Lombard site is being developed by Trammell Crow Co. and Clarion Partners. Those companies will lease the site from the Port for just over $1 million a year for 55 years, and in turn will sublease it to Amazon for an undisclosed sum.

The site is part of a designated enterprise zone, which means real-estate taxes from the new facility could be waived for up to five years. Amazon could also be eligible for an e-commerce tax credit for as much as 25 percent of its investment, up to $2 million a year.

The new jobs likely won't be especially high-paying. Warehouse workers in Portland typically earn from $13 to $23 an hour, said state workforce economist Amy Vander Vliet, less than the average across all industries.

Amazon's warehouse workers, however, get the same benefits package as the tech company's higher-earning software engineers, which includes health care, a 401(k) retirement plan and company stock awards. The company also offers paid parental leave and tuition assistance, perks typical of tech companies but not usually available to warehouse workers.

"It could definitely create opportunities for people who don't have more than a high school degree," Vander Vliet said. "There are still pockets of people in Portland that $15 or $18 or $22 dollars an hour could lift them up individually."

Though Oregon unemployment climbed in August, to 4.1 percent, it's been near or at record lows all year. But like the rest of the country, wages here have been largely stagnant since the Great Recession.

E-commerce companies like Amazon have already curbed growth in traditional brick-and-mortar retail. In the metro area, those sectors are still growing with the population, but seasonal hiring sprees are smaller and regular job creation is slower.

"The trend is already there, and there's probably not a lot we can do to stem that new face of retail in the economy," Vander Vliet said. "So it will help counter those losses in the chains in the retail industry to have an e-commerce presence here."

Amazon's Oregon presence also includes a large complex of data centers in Morrow County and a sortation center in Hillsboro One of its subsidiaries, online video specialist AWS Elemental, employs hundreds in a downtown Portland office. That site includes several dozen employees from other Amazon departments.

-- Elliot Njus

enjus@oregonian.com

503-294-5034

@enjus

This post has been updated to reflect the following correction: Amy Vander Vliet, a state workforce economist, said jobs at Amazon's fulfillment centers could "create opportunities for people who don't have more than a high school degree." An earlier version of the story included an inaccurate quote.