LANSING — Online retail giant Amazon.com Inc. plans to spend nearly $90 million to open a distribution warehouse on former General Motors Corp. property in Livonia, with plans to hire at least 1,000 people to serve customers across the Midwest.

The company could hire an additional 500 people in Livonia once the facility, called a regional fulfillment center, is operational, according to a memo from the Michigan Economic Development Corp. The state did not say when the distribution center would open, though a spokesman said the MEDC is "encouraged by Amazon's eagerness to begin and complete construction on what promises to be a high-profile, impact project."

The Michigan Strategic Fund, a unit of the MEDC, on Tuesday approved a $7.5 million performance-based grant for Amazon. Company officials could not immediately be reached for comment.

"We are thrilled to have the world's largest online retailer, Amazon, choosing Livonia for its biggest presence yet in Michigan," Livonia Mayor Dennis Wright said in a statement.

"This will give another major boost to our industrial corridor."

Amazon plans to open the warehouse at 13000 Eckles Road, between Plymouth and Schoolcraft roads, on the site of a former GM Delco Chassis facility. Neither the state nor Amazon disclosed the size of the Amazon center, but Wayne County Executive Warren Evans told Crain's it could be about 1 million square feet.

Revitalizing Auto Communities Environmental Response Trust, or RACER, said it closed on the sale of the property in August 2015 to Ashley Capital LLC, dba Livonia West Commerce Center LLC. Online property records show the site sold for $559,500.

RACER had held the Livonia property after GM's 2009 bankruptcy. The trust was created to clean up and market for sale the Detroit automaker's former plants. A RACER Trust memo about the property indicated GM bought the site in 1953 and used it for bumper plating operations until the 1990s.

Ashley Capital has an office in Canton Township. It was not immediately clear whether Amazon will occupy the entire 116-acre GM site.

The Livonia project was formally requested by Amazon.com.dedc LLC, which is a subsidiary of Seattle-based Amazon.com Inc., according to Bloomberg. The limited liability company filed an application for a certificate of authority with the state on Dec. 15, according to state records.

MEDC administrators said in a memo that Amazon also considered Indiana and Ohio for the project, because the retailer was interested in a site within 350 miles of its Midwest customers. The state also said Amazon qualified for an incentive in part because the state's low unemployment rate could make it difficult for Amazon to find enough workers for the fulfillment center.

Meanwhile, Amazon on Tuesday said it planned to create 1,000 jobs in suburban Chicago, with plans for a 1 million-square-foot fulfillment center and a 400,000-square-foot warehouse facility in Aurora, according to Crain's Chicago Business.

Amazon currently employs 277 people in Michigan, the MEDC said. That includes Brilliance Audio Inc., an audiobook publisher in Grand Haven, which is affiliated with Amazon. The company also has some corporate employees in downtown Detroit and a facility in Brownstown Township.

The city of Livonia has offered an undisclosed property tax incentive. Wayne County will spend up to $1.6 million on traffic and road improvements, Evans said, adding that the project has been in the works for about six months.

The MEDC memo said new jobs will be related to warehousing and storage. Evans said a starting average salary would be roughly $28,500.

Evans cited proximity to Interstates 96 and 275, Detroit Metropolitan Airport and an international border crossing with Canada as factors that might have contributed to Michigan's ability to attract Amazon.