The 3.8-million square foot, 105-foot high, five-story white and blue Amazon distribution center in Woodburn, billed as the biggest building in Oregon, appeared finished for much of 2023. Yet the gigantic parking lot surrounding it has been mostly empty as the company syncs up robotic operations before opening.

When the project was approved in 2021, the company projected it would open the distribution center estimated to cost $451 million in spring 2023.

A spokesperson for Amazon declined to say when the distribution center is expected to open.

“Launch dates are subject to change in order to fit our business needs and to improve the experience for our employees, customers and partners,” Amazon spokesperson Sam Stephenson said in an emailed statement.

“Through the construction process, we’ve stayed close with our partners in Woodburn and this fulfillment center remains a big part of our plans for the area,” Stephenson said. “While we don’t yet have an exact launch timeline to share, we look forward to doing so in the future.”

In September 2022, Amazon halted plans to build a 517,000 square foot warehouse in Canby. That came after the company closed or stopped construction on 42 warehouses and delayed construction on another 21 locations.

Those reports and the Woodburn facility not opening when expected led some to speculate whether it would open at all.

“A lot of rumors,” said Woodburn Mayor Frank Lonergan. “But they have such an investment. … They’re not going to put that investment in (and not open).”

Robots will play major role at Amazon distribution center in Woodburn

Lonergan toured the building twice in 2023.

“The building is done and what they’re doing now is basically bringing in their internal structure, the robots, and putting those together,” Lonergan said.

He and other elected officials who have toured the facility say they have been told robots will do much of the work in pulling orders. Amazon in October said it has some 750,000 robots working in its distribution centers.

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Marion County Commissioner Colm Willis described the building as a three-dimensional computer.

“Imagine a football field encased in a building, multiple football fields stacked on top of each other,” Willis said. “On the outside walls is where the staff will be at little computers and they then give direction to the robots to go get the goods.”

The Amazon distribution center was given a temporary certificate of occupancy on June 30, 2023.

It has received several temporary certificates of occupancy since then, and its most recent is set to expire Feb. 4. City officials say that was for 38,000 square feet of office space so the company can perform administrative functions including security and employee training.

The city said Amazon is in the process of permitting its package conveyance system on the north side of the building.

It currently has five commercial electrical permits that were issued Dec. 20, 2023.

“They got all these receiving docks up there. So they got all this stuff coming in and it’s going to get sorted by these computers,” Marion County Commissioner Kevin Cameron said.

Amazon facility to bring influx of workers to Woodburn, money for city

Estimates about how many people Amazon will employ at the Woodburn location have fluctuated from 1,500 to 2,000.

Those numbers would make it one of the largest influx of new jobs by a private employer in Marion County in decades. When the Salem warehouse opened in 2019, it had about 1,000 employees.

Lonergan said construction crews have had setbacks along the way.

“I think COVID definitely set it back,” Lonergan said. “They had a construction problem. And I don’t know what it was, but there was something wrong with some concrete, and they had to go in and do a major dig up. I’m sure that slowed it several months.”

According to Marion County Tax Assessor records, Amazon purchased the 128 acres of land in 2021 for $27 million.

The most recent assessment on the land was $5.4 million in 2023. Amazon paid $119,000 in taxes on the property in 2023.

The city does not yet know what the assessed value of the building will it’s operating.

“We’re hoping $8 million to $10 million,” Lonergan said. “That’s what we don’t know. We’re starting to put that together for this next year (2024), and we’ll probably have some preliminary figures. We’re anticipating a big chunk.”

Since the Amazon facility was announced, other developments have started in the area, including apartment complexes, housing developments and a Chick-fil-A on Highway 219.

“I think one thing that is of the public interest is it’s had a massively positive impact on the public finances of the city of Woodburn,” Willis said.

According to Oregon Department of Transportation spokesperson David House, Amazon paid for $6.9 million in road improvements, including a roundabout at Highway 219 and Butteville Road and widening a stretch of 175 feet of the southbound off ramp of Interstate 5 at Exit 271.

Woodburn said all required off-site public infrastructure improvements, including extending public utilities, has been completed.

Bill Poehler covers Marion and Polk County for the Statesman Journal. Contact him at bpoehler@StatesmanJournal.com

This article originally appeared on Salem Statesman Journal: Amazon completing internal structure, robots at Woodburn, warehouse