A massive e-commerce distribution center is in the works for farmland next to the Eugene Airport. But the identity of the occupant isn’t being made public.
The single-story center will total more than 323,000 square feet, according to the building permit application filed late last month. That’s the size of two average Costco stores. In other words, big by Eugene standards.
The building will have the footprint of a typical Amazon “sortation center,” a regional hub where up to 300 workers use conveyor systems and other machinery to sort packages, and a truck fleet to deliver them.
Seattle-based Amazon did not reply to inquiries from Eugene Weekly.
The application doesn’t list the planned occupant, but the architect and contractor is Connecticut-based BL Companies, which specializes in building facilities for Amazon.
The site — 85 acres — is on the west side of Highway 99 North, two miles north of the intersection of Hwy 99 and Randy Pape Beltline. It is immediately east of the airport.
But city officials have known for months that a major development is likely on the spot. Last summer, the owners of the land alerted the city that their goal was to create “an industrial center, consisting of a warehouse, distribution facilities, delivery vehicle storage and associated parking.”
Greg Evans, the Eugene city councilor for that ward, did not return emails and phone messages from EW. The city’s communications staff was unable to say if the city knows the identity of the occupant.
Farmland no longer protected
The site is farmland — usually sacrosanct in Oregon. Until 2017, the parcel was protected from development. But that year, in updating its 20-year growth plans, Eugene expanded its urban growth boundary to include the site, and tabbed it for industrial use.
Last summer, the City Council approved the owners’ request to bring the property into the city limits, a formality allowing development.
The parcel is owned by a group headed by Lydia Lane Kulus of Sisters, Oregon, another Sisters resident, a Eugene resident and a Texas resident, land and planning records show. They appear to have owned the land for a number of years. The Weekly was unable to reach them.
The building permit application says the complex will cost $24 million and be an “ecommerce facility with parking, fleet storage and stormwater treatment facilities.” The land owners tout the proximity to the airport and Hwy 99.
Could it be Amazon?
The complex might be for Amazon — but who knows? The e-commerce behemoth has built distribution facilities in Oregon at a brisk clip. All the big ones are in the Portland and Salem areas.
Amazon’s biggest facilities, up to 1 million square feet or more, are “fulfillment and distribution centers,” where items from manufacturers are stored and sorted for shipping to sortation centers.
Amazon’s biggest site in Oregon is its soon-to-open fulfillment center in Woodburn next to Interstate-5, north of Salem. It sports 3.8 million square feet of space spread across five stories, according to published reports.
Amazon’s other Oregon fulfillment centers are in Multnomah and Marion counties. Amazon has sortation centers in Washington and Multnomah counties.
Some businesses other than Amazon are building super-sized distribution centers around the country — but typically not in Oregon, and not at 300,000-plus square feet.