Amazon adding 1,650 jobs in Pasco and a third warehouse to speed up Tri-Cities deliveries
Amazon Inc. will speed up deliveries in the Mid-Columbia this year by building a “last-mile” station in north Pasco.
Seattle-based Amazon and its development partner, Ambrose Property Group, will build a $25 million facility at 5700 N. Capitol Ave., Pasco, next to the new Reser’s Fine Foods facility.
Amazon paid $3.75 million for 25 acres in the Port of Pasco’s Pasco Industrial Center 395 (PIC395) in deals expected to close on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Amazon confirmed that it is the tenant for what it calls a “last-mile” facility where customer orders are prepared for delivery. The station and one of Amazon’s existing fulfillment centers will open this year, and will employ a total of 1,650, a spokeswoman said.
“Amazon is excited to partner with the Port of Pasco on several projects that will deliver for our customers in the Tri-Cities area,” Easton Craft, Northwest regional manager for worldwide economic development at Amazon said in a statement to the Tri-City Herald.
The company said it could not confirm if the facility will enable same-day deliveries, but said it will shorten the time between when orders are placed and when they arrive at customers’ doorsteps.
Third time’s the charm?
The station will be the third Amazon facility built in Pasco in as many years.
It famously built but did not open two fulfillment centers, each with more than 1 million square feet, on South Road 40 East, near Sacajawea State Park in east Pasco in 2021-2022.
After an initial pause, one will open this summer as an “Inbound Cross Dock,” which receives and consolidates products from vendors to enable bulk shipments. This week, Amazon said the bulk center will bring 1,500 jobs to Pasco, bringing its total hiring to 1,650.
No plans have been shared for the second building.
At 87,750-square-feet, the new delivery station will be much smaller. It will be constructed by Ambrose and operated by Amazon.
The port welcomed the addition of a third Amazon facility in Pasco.
“The port is excited that Amazon will be investing even more into the Tri-Cities community. Our PIC395 property along Highway 395 will be a great complement to their larger Pasco warehouses and will help them achieve their goal of two-day delivery,” said Jean Ryckman, president of the port’s elected commission.
Code name Amazon
In keeping with Amazon’s penchant for code names, planning documents filed with the city and the state refer to the delivery station as “Project Hawk.” Planners continue to refer to its larger siblings as “Project Oyster” and “Project Pearl” despite ample Amazon signage on both.
Amazon was identified as the entity behind Project Hawk via the port, which initially agreed to sell the site to Ambrose, which was slated to develop it for its unidentified client. Amazon is the client.
Amazon’s name became public when Ambrose assigned the purchase agreement to Amazon, which required approval of the port’s elected commission in early February.
Randy Hayden, the port’s executive director, planned to publicly confirm the delivery station news during the Tri-City Regional Chamber of Commerce’s annual State of the Ports luncheon on Feb. 28.
Amazon’s Pasco history
Amazon has had a fraught history in Pasco.
It made a splashy entrance when its developer, Ryan Companies US, began constructing the massive fulfillment centers, which were supposed to add 1,500 jobs to the local economy.
But the plans faltered.
Oyster and Pearl were part of a pandemic era building boom that doubled Amazon’s logistics footprint. When company paused its expansion, the buildings were left idle. The move left the Tri-Cities waiting for signs of activity, with eagle-eyed fans scrutinizing every Amazon-related job posting for signs of life.
The status changed this month after the city of Pasco authorized a $10 million project to reconfigure the racking and other systems at Project Oyster. Amazon later confirmed it will use the building as a bulk sorting center.
Amazon noted it offers a wide range of jobs with wages between $17 and $28 per hour as well as benefits available from the first day of employment.
The company said it has invested $255.7 billion in Washington since 2010 leading to 90,000 direct jobs. Go to amazon.jobs
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