June 17, 2020 • Local News
Giant Amazon distribution center may be built in El Paso County, documents indicate
Giant Amazon distribution center may be built in El Paso County, documents indicate
Plans appear to be in the works for Amazon to put one of its giant distribution centers, known as customer fulfillment centers, on a large tract of vacant land in far East El Paso County.
Documents filed with Texas and El Paso agencies, and reports from others appear to indicate plans for the center. Officials with Amazon and companies involved in developing the project declined to comment.
However, Stanley Jobe, founding partner of Jobe Materials, a large concrete supplier in El Paso, said his company plans to put a temporary concrete batch plant on land where the proposed Amazon facility is to be built to supply concrete for the project. His company has applied for a state air quality permit to operate the plant. Signs advising the public of the permit application stand along Rojas Drive, not far from Eastlake Boulevard.
"That (air permit application) is for Amazon. It's a temporary (concrete) batch plant" for construction of an Amazon fulfillment center, Jobe said. "I'm not sure of the status of the (air) permit, or when the job will start."
Jobe declined to say who hired his company to be concrete supplier for the project.
An official with a national construction company said the company submitted a bid to be the general contractor for the proposed construction of an Amazon fulfillment center on land located along Rojas Drive and near Eastlake Boulevard in far East El Paso County. The official said her name nor the company name could be published because of Amazon restraints.
Amazon operates about 175 fulfillment centers of varying sizes in the world, including 110 in North America, with about 500,000 full-time employees, according to company information. It's been adding new centers in recent years in the Western United States.
The number of employees at the centers varies. But many of the centers employ well over 1,000 people. Wages start at $15 per hour, plus health benefits and a 401(k) retirement savings plan, according to Amazon information.
$191 million project, report shows
An architect's project registration filed May 27 with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation shows that Hillwood, a large Dallas real estate development company headed by billionaire Ross Perot Jr., is owner of Project William, the proposed, 2.6 million-square-foot fulfillment center in El Paso County. However, Amazon's name is not attached to the registration document.
The project cost is listed as $191.7 million.
The site location address is listed as 12101 Emerald Pass Drive, which is a proposed street different from the existing Emerald Pass Avenue in East El Paso County.
Proposed site is 115 acres, plat shows
The proposed El Paso site would be on about 115 acres of vacant land near the southeast corner of Rojas Drive and Eastlake Boulevard, according to a subdivision plat named Project William Unit One recently filed with the El Paso Planning and Inspections Department. The land is between Rojas and Interstate 10, and includes the proposed Emerald Pass Drive.
The Socorro school district's headquarters at 12300 Eastlake Blvd., near the proposed Amazon site.
The subdivision plat application lists Hillwood as the developer.
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