Developer still quiet on rumored Amazon warehouse

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A Newport Beach, California developer remains mum on whether Amazon is the intended tenant of a proposed 857,397-square-foot warehouse in Nampa.

Panattoni Development Co. received a conditional-use permit in June to build a two-story structure for a “possible warehouse, distribution and wholesale use“ on 62 acres at Franklin and Star roads, just east of the Ford Idaho Center and southwest of Sorrento Lactalis.

Panattoni  and Nampa city officials routinely refer to the proposal as Project Bronco but Panattoni makes a single mention of PREDEV – Amazon BTS on the receipt for the conditional use permit filing. Panattoni has built several Amazon facilities, many in Europe.

“I can’t comment on that at all,” said Brent Collins, senior development manager at Panattoni’s Sacramento office. “We have a non-disclosure agreement with our client.”

An Amazon spokeswoman also declined to comment on the company’s plans.

Amazon has more than 100 distribution or fulfillment centers in 30 states. The closest to Idaho is in the Seattle metro, where Amazon is based. A couple  ofAmazon centers are in the works in the Portland area, and one is planned for Salt Lake City. Amazon on July 20 announced a 600,000-square-foot-plus fulfillment center for Spokane, Washington.

Amazon apparently has no fulfillment centers in the northern tier of states between the coast and Minnesota.

Paperwork for Project Bronco in Nampa is not final.  A construction start date hasn’t been determined, with government approvals still pending and “our client’s ever changing needs,” Collins said.

“We would like to start this fall and be done in 12 months,” he said.

The architect is Ware Malcomb of Irvine, California and the general contractor is Clayco of Chicago.