[NEW YORK] Amazon.com is considering a US$15 billion warehouse expansion plan for nearly 80 new logistics facilities in US cities and rural areas that would reverse its post-pandemic construction slowdown, according to sources familiar with the matter.
The e-commerce company is asking potential capital partners to submit proposals, the sources said, asking not to be identified citing private information. The properties are expected to be mostly delivery hubs, where vans and trucks are loaded for the final leg to shoppers’ homes, but some projects would also include large, multi-storey fulfilment centres packed with robots, the sources said.
Amazon’s request for information from financing partners predated last week’s tariff announcement from US President Donald Trump that roiled global markets and spurred fears of a possible recession. It’s unclear exactly how the stricter trade policies would impact the e-commerce company’s plans.
“Meetings like this with our capital partners are routine and part of the normal due-diligence process, as we consider potential, future projects,” Amazon spokesperson Steve Kelly said.
The technology company is willing to lease the facilities for 15 to 25 years, and some of the sites could be funded directly by Amazon, the sources said.
Amazon’s renewed push for more warehouses suggests that the company could be emerging from a construction slowdown that followed its rapid pandemic-era expansion.
The company has tried out various ways to expand its network of warehouses in the past. Throughout most of its history, Amazon signed long-term lease agreements with industrial developers who took on the risk of buying land and building sprawling warehouses.
Between 2020 and 2022, Amazon shifted that approach and went on a buying spree for developed properties and bare land across North America, taking parts of the development process in-house. The company sought to lock in scarce industrial space close to customers to help speed up delivery times, but Amazon ended up with a surplus of warehouse space.
Now, the industrial real estate market is softening. A surge of new supply has coincided with slower demand, pushing industrial vacancy rates past 7 per cent for the first time since 2014, brokerage Jones Lang LaSalle said in a fourth-quarter report. BLOOMBERG
