This article was originally published by Don Day in Boise Dev.
A large new industrial facility in the desert south of Boise could pop up soon. And it appears the tenant — is Amazon.
It would give the nation’s largest retailer another large warehouse-type facility in the greater Boise area, and add infrastructure for the delivery of packages purchased on the online e-commerce site.
The Boyer Company of Salt Lake City applied to build a 278,493 square foot “sortation” building on a large piece of land in the Boise Gateway industrial park at 2155 E. Freight St. That park sits on ground owned by the City of Boise, which the Boyer Company leases for development. It’s a partnership BoiseDev first reported last year. The park sits right next to the Winco Foods distribution center.
Permit filings with the City of Boise go to great lengths not to mention the tenant for the building. However, the documents are marked “build to suit,” indicating the large building is not being constructed on spec.
In addition, the architect for the project, Ware Malcomb, does extensive work for Amazon, but isn’ttypically active in Idaho – but was the architect for Amazon’s Nampa facility. Additionally, a source with knowledge of the project says it is for Amazon.
Amazon did not immediately return a request for comment. A City of Boise spokesperson couldn’t immediately say if the city was aware of the tenant for the project.
Large building
The large building will include mostly warehouse space, with additional space for a large employee break room, lockers, training and security space. Floorplans indicate the east and west sides of the building would include dozens of loading docks.
Two guard shacks would pop up, and parking for 309 vehicles provided. City code requires 189 spaces. Space for 19 bikes would be provided for, less than the 23 required.
The project will require design review approval from the City of Boise. The city set a hearing for November 18th.
Amazonsays on its websitethat “sortation” is one of its six warehouse types. In this facility, employees “sort customer orders by final destination and consolidate them onto trucks for faster delivery.”
About three miles to the north, Amazon built out another warehouse type, a delivery station. Employees at that building load package up to head out to customer’s homes.
The largest local Amazon facility is a new so-called “fulfillment center,” where products are stored and sorted into orders. That project, in Nampa near I-84, should open in coming weeks.
To give you an idea of size, the Amazon Nampa fulfillment center includes 650,000 square feet, the Freight St. sortation center would cover 278,000 square feet, and the Boise delivery station is about 80,000 square feet.
