Amazon has hit the brakes on its plans to build a proposed 517,000-square-foot warehouse on a 47.5-acre lot located on Township, Sequoia and Mulino roads in the Canby industrial park.
The internet retail giant announced last September that the new sorting and shipping facility would bring some 500 new jobs to the community paying an average wage of $18 an hour, with plans to open in 2023.
“I look toward a future of building a relationship with Amazon — just as I do with all of the businesses located within the Canby Pioneer Industrial Park,” Canby Mayor Brian Hodson said in a press release at the time.
But a city planning process to review the revised plans for the project failed to materialize this year, and news broke last week confirming that the company has put its plans for the facility on hold indefinitely.
“The City of Canby received notification the proposed Amazon project has been paused,” Canby Economic Development Director Jamie Stickel told media outlets last week. “The city does not have a sense of how long Amazon’s project will be paused or what will happen to the property in the meantime.”
Bloomberg, citing prominent consultancy MWPVL International Inc., reported earlier this month that Amazon had closed or halted plans to open 42 warehouses with a combined footprint of nearly 25 million square feet and was delaying another 21 locations.
The change in strategy comes as consumer patterns largely returned to normal this year following the pandemic-fueled boom for online retailers in 2020 and 2021. Soaring inflation affecting gas and other basic consumer goods has also made its mark.
Amazon declined to comment on the Canby project specifically, but spokesperson Alisa Carroll said the company runs a “dynamic business” and must frequently adapt to business conditions.
“There are a variety of factors we weigh when deciding where to develop future sites to best serve our customers, and it’s common for us to explore multiple locations at the same time and then adjust those plans based on our operational needs,” Carroll said in a written statement.
Amazon also has shipping facilities in Troutdale, Portland, Hillsboro and Salem, and is building a massive, 3.84 million-square-foot fulfillment center in Woodburn.
The Canby facility was described a “sortation center,” where Amazon employees would sort, package and ship items for final delivery to customers.
Initially presented as “Canby South,” a speculative project with no confirmed end user, the original warehouse and distribution center approved by the Canby Planning Commission would have been even larger, covering 683,000 square feet — with plans for a future expansion of 107,000 more.
Because the design preferred by Amazon deviates significantly from the approved version, the project would have to be reviewed again by city staff and planning officials.
