It’s official. Amazon is $5B mystery data center developer near Tri-Cities
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Port of Walla Walla to amend deal identifying Amazon as buyer of 553 acres at Wallula Gap.
- Amazon will pay $36M and plan 16 data centers; port grants utility easements.
- Amazon has been active in the Mid-Columbia in recent years with other proposed projects.
For more than a year, the company behind the largest private economic development project in the region’s history hid behind an alias.
No longer.
Amazon Data Services is the company behind “Advance Phase LLC,” which has a deal with the Port of Walla Walla to buy land at Wallula Gap for a $5 billion data center.
In late 2024, the port agreed to sell 500 acres at Wallula Gap Business Park to Advance Phase LLC.
Port officials, bound by nondisclosure agreements, did not identify the company behind the alias.
However, Amazon’s identity became clear when one official described Advance as a Top 30 “American multinational technology company, engaged in e-commerce, cloud computing, online advertising, digital streaming, and artificial intelligence service.”
Amazon declined to comment at the time, but Alphabet Inc. parent Google Inc., privately confirmed it was not involved.
The port commission is expected to amend its purchase and sale agreement to identify Amazon as the buyer when it meets at 9 a.m., Feb. 12, at the Walla Walla Airport.
The amended agreement boosts the total area to 553 acres. Wallula Gap is about 10 miles southeast of Pasco in western Walla Walla County.
Amazon to pay $36M
Amazon will pay $65,000 per acre or $36 million for the property, an increase from the initial amount that reflects the added area under contract.
The port will grant Amazon access, utility, rail and other easements across the property. Amazon is expected to construct a cluster of 16 data centers on the property, which will have two entrances from Attalia East Road.
The port will provide a four-inch domestic potable water line.
Amazon Data Centers together with Amazon Inc. and Amazon Web Services have been active in the Mid-Columbia in recent years.
Amazon built two massive warehouses as well as a delivery station in Pasco. It opened one of the warehouses as a receiving center for incoming merchandise and left the other empty. The delivery station opened in 2025 and is enabling two-day deliveries in the Tri-Cities.
In October, Amazon and Energy Northwest moved ahead with plans to start building Washington’s first small modular nuclear power reactor near Richland in the next five years, a project named Cascade Advanced Energy facility.
Amazon will have the right to buy the 320 megawatts of energy to power its artificial intelligence and cloud services.
Two other data centers are contemplated in the region.
The city of Richland has a deal to sell land near the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory to Atlas Agro for a $500 million data center.
And the data arm of Trammel Crow Co. confirmed it is considering a site at West Richland’s Lewis & Clark Ranch for a data center.
Wallula Gap Businss Park is a 1,400-acre park zoned to support industrial development. The port has a series of deals that could bring billions in new investment to the area.
In addition to Amazon, Rockwool USA is building an insulation plant there and sustainable aviation fuel manufacturer SkyNRG has a land deal as well.
This story was originally published February 11, 2026 at 10:57 AM.