East Vancouver warehouses have Amazon ties

Plans for the building include a “large awning, covered roadway and loading zone, and asphalt and concrete pavements to serve approximately 540 vehicle stalls. The facility also includes a truck dock on the eastern side of the building to service seven loading docks.”

Amazon.com Services LLC purchased the property in October for $4.4 million, and the plans for the building will impact about 4.9 acres of wetland.

Amazon did not reply to The Columbian’s request for more information, and Steve Sieber of TC Pursuit Services said he could not comment on the project.

The building will be Vancouver’s first Amazon warehouse, part of a fast-spreading number of locations from the Seattle-based tech company.

Bridge

Delaware-based Bridge Industrial is building a light-industrial warehouse called Bridge Point Vancouver 600. Its one tenant is “TBD,” according to a spokesperson for Bridge Development, which has offices in Washington. However, the project has a look and feel of an Amazon warehouse, too; Bridge Industrial has a history of building warehouses that it leases to Amazon.

It’s a similar level of secrecy that Amazon prefers when building projects. Its 1.3 million-square-foot Spokane Valley warehouse that was completed last year and now employs more than 1,000 people was referred to as “Project Fireball” and fueled community speculation for months until Amazon revealed itself. It’s one of a handful of similar mysterious projects that later turn out to be Amazon.

The Vancouver land occupies 43.88 acres along Northeast 162nd Avenue that has long been void of any buildings. For many months, Bridge has been conducting environmental studies on the site; it purchased the land on June 14 for $4.19 million.

The city-approved plans for the property include a 646,274-square-foot warehouse and about 50,000 square feet of surface pavement. There is room for 40-foot clear heights, 110 docks, eight drive-in doors, 413 parking stalls and 166 trailer stalls.

The building is due to be finished at the end of 2023, according to Justin Carlucci, partner for the Northwest region at Bridge.

“We’re looking forward to delivering this modern, state-of-the-art logistics facility adjacent to a growing population base with direct access to the expressway as well as main arterials — to meet the continued demand for industrial product in the Pacific Northwest,” said Carlucci in a statement.

Bridge will be dedicating public right-of-way and constructing Northeast 59th Street on the north side of the site, Carlucci said in an email to The Columbian. Bridge will also be improving the Northeast 162nd Avenue and the Northeast 59th Street intersection.

The intersection of Northeast 162nd Avenue and 59th Street will also have a signalized intersection.

“Bridge Point Vancouver 600 is strategically located just 12 miles from downtown Portland, three miles from (state Highway) 500, four miles to I-205, and just 12 miles to Portland International Airport and the Port of Vancouver,” according to Bridge’s news release. “The site’s proximity to I-205 also affords future tenants direct access to I-5 as well as (Interstate) 84, and its location within the state of Washington provides tax benefits for both tenants and their employees alike.”

The question remains: will it be an Amazon facility?

“We are wondering that as well, but we haven’t heard one way or the other,” said Chad Eiken, Community and Economic Development Director at the City of Vancouver.