The same person who first revealed plans for the Amazon fulfillment center in Albuquerque on Twitter earlier this year has now tweeted another intriguing rumor regarding economic development in Albuquerque. He says that there is a huge project soon to be revealed that will "dwarf" the Amazon project and the Facebook project as well.
https://mobile.twitter.com/DiaDeLobo...71383837421570
It may just be the Orion Center, but it's exciting to contemplate what else it might be. People replying to his tweet seem to think it has to do with a company bigger than Facebook or Amazon such as Apple, but I think it just means it's a project bigger in scope than the Amazon fulfillment center and Facebook data center projects. The Orion Center certainly looks like it could be bigger than both those projects in square footage, jobs and cost, but we shall see.
For reference, that would mean the Orion Center or any other project would have to be larger than 2.85 million sq ft of space, create more than 1,500 jobs and cost more than $1.5 billion dollars in order to be bigger than either of those two projects. That's certainly huge economic development news!
He also had another tweet with another rumor to do with even more activity from Amazon.
https://mobile.twitter.com/DiaDeLobo...71870120878080
Just today while perusing recent building permits issued in Albuquerque I came across a building permit issued yesterday for what looks like an Amazon delivery station on Albuquerque's Westside.
It will be located in the Meridian Business Park in an existing warehouse building that looks like it will be renovated to suit Amazon's needs. It's only 45,000 sq ft, but that looks to be in line with other Amazon delivery stations across the country.
https://posse.cabq.gov/posse/pub/lms...ctId=113171496
https://www.loopnet.com/Listing/7300...e-NM/18092964/
Amazon isn't named directly, but Boyd Chapman is listed as the owner/tenant on the building permit and he is a
construction manager at Amazon. BRR Architecture has worked on numerous Amazon projects across the country. Ryan Companies has also worked on numerous Amazon projects across the country and is of course currently building the Albuquerque Amazon fulfillment center as well.
I think the next thing that will be revealed from Amazon is a sortation center somewhere in Albuquerque. Sortation centers are usually about 200,000-400,000 sq ft and they also may be located in existing warehouse space. They usually employ about 200-300 people. That may be what the second big Amazon project is, if it's built from the ground up rather than located in an existing building.
But what's really exciting to contemplate is that Albuquerque may get another massive fulfillment center also employing over 1,000 people. I believe with the 5-year timeline that is what the second building has to do with, it won't be built very soon, but later down the road. The second fulfillment center would probably handle large, non-sortable items. The fulfillment center already under construction will handle small, sortable items.
Below is the most recent progress video of the Albuquerque Amazon fulfillment center construction on Vimeo.