When opens later this year, the 1 million-square-foot warehouse in Aurora won’t be full of books, beauty products and small gadgets.
Instead, the 36-foot-tall racks will be packed with some of the larger items that customers order from the e-commerce giant, Amazon officials said Friday during a construction tour of the site.
“Anything that’s greater than 18 inches in diameter would be in this building,” spokeswoman Ashley Robinson said. “You’re talking baseball bats, boxes of diapers, patio furniture, musical equipment.”
Orders for smaller items will continue to be fulfilled out of state, potentially at centers in Texas, Arizona or Kansas, she said.
“Our buildings don’t just serve one specific region. They serve everywhere,” Robinson said. “So while we’re locating this building to be as close as possible to the customer, that doesn’t mean you’re still not getting those items from all across the country.”
Construction is on schedule for a late summer opening, officials said. Hiring has already begun for managerial and support staff positions, although most of the other .
The facility, on East 19th Avenue north of the Interstate 70/E-470 junction, is in Prologis Park 70, about 5 miles east of .
The fulfillment center will feature something called very narrow aisle racking — the 36-foot-tall racks will be separated by aisles that are just four feet wide and employees will use specialized powered industrial trucks to reach the items, Robinson said.
Opening a fulfillment center in Colorado is the next step toward expanding customer benefits here, she said. Amazon has offered Sunday delivery in the Denver area since last year, when it .
“The hope is as we continue to expand our logistics network here in Colorado, we’ll be able to increase the Prime customer benefits for that same-day and faster delivery speeds,” Robinson said.
