The facility, the company’s first in Central Oregon, is expected to accelerate shipping by 50%.
Amazon will open a 14-acre warehouse in Redmond to speed package delivery in Central Oregon.
The 84,000-square-foot site — small compared to Amazon’s facilities in Portland, Troutdale and Hillsboro — will be the company’s first location east of the Cascades, according to The Oregonian. The “delivery station” will receive packages from Amazon fulfillment and sortation centers and briefly house them before they’re delivered the “last mile” by van. The facility is expected to accelerate package delivery in Central Oregon by 50%.
It will be one of more than 200 delivery stations Amazon plans to build in rural communities. Another is planned for Tillamook. The effort will cost $4 billion. Amazon further plans to soon open a 3.8-million-square-foot warehouse in Woodburn, a size equivalent to nine Costcos.
The global e-commerce company expects to begin construction this month and conclude by the middle of next year, according to the regional business agency Economic Development Central Oregon, which lobbied for the project. Similar projects, like one in Klamath Falls that opened in December, have created around 170 jobs in other communities.
“We appreciate the investment Amazon is making in Redmond and the confidence they have in our future growth,” Redmond Mayor Ed Fitch said in a written statement.
The facility will be located on the city’s eastern edge at the corner of East Antler Avenue and Northeast Ninth Street. The planning and design process required creative thinking to address challenges like relocating irrigation canals and re-routing gas lines, EDCO representative Steve Curley writes in a statement.
“This project is the culmination of more than three years of work,” Curley writes. “We had to think outside the box to create a site that fits Amazon’s unique operational needs in an area with increasingly challenging constraints. We’re excited to see it come to life and the positive impact it will have on our community.”
EDCO claimed credit for securing the project and “facilitating collaboration between public and private partners.” In addition to adding jobs to the local economy, the delivery station is expected to strengthen the region’s logistics infrastructure, improve customer service and reinforce the area as a strategic transportation and distribution hub.
With a growing population and income, Central Oregon is an economic bright spot for the state. Bend has emerged as a work-from-home destination and nearby Prineville is one of the fastest-growing micropolitan areas in the state.
Amazon says it received no public incentives for the project. Oregon lawmakers discontinued tax breaks for e-commerce warehouses which could have potentially saved the company millions.
In addition to distribution facilities around the state, Amazon operates several large data centers near the Columbia River and plans to build a major expansion in the small town of Arlington.
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