Business

Amazon expands near Boise yet again. Here’s what is happening, and where

Amazon is expanding yet again in Idaho’s Treasure Valley.

The online retailer is building a 140,000-square-foot delivery station at Franklin and Ten Mile roads in western Meridian, three-fourths of a mile from Interstate 84’s Ten Mile interchange.

It will be the third Boise-area delivery station for Amazon, a “last mile” pickup point for semitrailer trucks to bring packages that the company’s familiar delivery trucks will carry to their final destinations at homes and businesses. The company opened its second Idaho delivery station last year near the Boise Airport and its first one two years ago in Nampa.

An email to the company seeking details, including how many people the station will employ, was not immediately answered Friday.

The station will be a bit larger than a Target store, a bit smaller than a Fred Meyer — small compared with Amazon’s regional fulfillment center that is scheduled to open next month 3 miles to the west on the same Franklin Road.

An architect’s schematic of the south-facing side of the Amazon delivery station to be built at 2316 W. Franklin Road, Meridian. This view shows loading docks, where trucks will offload goods for later delivery, on the building’s north side facing Franklin.
An architect’s schematic of the south-facing side of the Amazon delivery station to be built at 2316 W. Franklin Road, Meridian. This view shows loading docks, where trucks will offload goods for later delivery, on the building’s north side facing Franklin. City of Meridian filing

That 2.7-million-square-foot center, larger than the Boise Towne Square mall, is Idaho’s first and only such center. Amazon is trying now to hire more than 2,000 people to work there, all earning at least $15 per hour, the company’s minimum wage.

Excavation and grading workers worked Friday to prepare the one-story Meridian delivery station site for construction. It will include acres of parking space for employee cars Amazon’s delivery trucks.

The map shows the proposed delivery station building in beige. Employee auto parking is in yellow, left. Vans would park in the blue areas at right, queue in the purple areas, and load in the light green areas. Ten Mile Road is at far left, Franklin Road at the bottom (labeled here as East West Road).
The map shows the proposed delivery station building in beige. Employee auto parking is in yellow, left. Vans would park in the blue areas at right, queue in the purple areas, and load in the light green areas. Ten Mile Road is at far left, Franklin Road at the bottom (labeled here as East West Road). City of Meridian filing

The land is among many properties along Franklin Road owned by Adler Industrial Inc., a Boise developer. An Adler executive declined to discuss the project Friday, citing a nondisclosure agreement. So did the station’s architect at AO Architects in Orange, California. A call to the general contractor, Okland Construction in Salt Lake City, was not returned.

Workers excavating and grading the site of Amazon’s third Treasure Valley delivery station piled brush near the southwest corner of the site. Franklin Road is at right. The school buses are leaving the Cascade Student Transportation bus-storage site on the Amazon site’s eastern border.
Workers excavating and grading the site of Amazon’s third Treasure Valley delivery station piled brush near the southwest corner of the site. Franklin Road is at right. The school buses are leaving the Cascade Student Transportation bus-storage site on the Amazon site’s eastern border. David Staats dstaats@idahostatesman.com

BuildZoom first reported the permit application.

This story was originally published October 24, 2020 at 4:00 AM.

CORRECTION: Amazon’s big Nampa fulfillment center near Interstate 84 has four floors that occupy 2.7 million square feet, according to the Canyon County assessor’s office. Its ground-floor footprint is 709,138 square feet. An earlier version of this story incorrectly reported the building’s square footage, based on an error in the Amazon news release that announced the building’s opening.

Corrected Dec 2, 2021
David Staats
Idaho Statesman
Business and Local Government Editor David Staats joined the Idaho Statesman in 2004.  Support my work with a digital subscription
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