Exclusive | How far along are Amazon’s 2 Tri-Cities warehouses? Check out their progress

Amazon’s two massive new warehouses are set to open in Pasco in about six months, and new documents are giving a clearer picture of what operations will look like.

As work on the outside of the two warehouses nears completion, contractors have begun to apply for permits to begin work on some interior systems.

Initial filings with the city of Pasco set a projected completion date of August 2022.

Despite both warehouses clocking in at around 1,050,000 square feet, the facilities will be much different because of the types of products each are planned to house.

They are expected to put a combined 2,800 vehicles on roadways daily in the Tri-Cities. Most of the traffic will be from employees, with a total of about 650 trucks in and out of the warehouses.

The eastern warehouse — or Project Oyster at 1361 S. Road 40 East — sits on 162 acres and will handle smaller goods such as household items, books, toys and technology.

Of the two, Oyster appears to be further along with much of the facade work being finished up, and crews even beginning to paint portions of the exterior Amazon’s signature blue.

The western warehouse, which is directly across the street at 1202 S. Road 40 East, is known as Project Pearl. It sits on 104 acres.

It will hold larger items such as furniture, outdoor equipment, as well as large packages of paper goods and pet supplies.

Project Oyster

Project Oyster is the larger of the two facilities with a footprint of 1,080,225 square feet, including 36,241 square feet of office space.

It isn’t just physically larger though, inside will have an additional 252,000 square feet of space.

A mezzanine level will run along the east side of the facility, above the main loading docks. At 211 feet by 1,193 feet, it will cover about one-third of the warehouse.

The mezzanine level is situated 19 feet up, and will have two pick levels — one at mezzanine level and the other 9 feet above it with a walkway.

In all, that adds about half a million square feet of usable space to the warehouse, bringing its total to about 1.6 million square-feet, according to documents.

Photos from other multi-level Amazon facilities, such as their Phoenix, Ariz. warehouse, show some use chutes, having employees place items onto slides that feed down to conveyor belts on the ground level.

The mezzanine area will have break rooms and restrooms for employees working the upper levels.

Oyster is also expected to have more employees than its counterpart, with about 1,000 of the 1,500 new Amazon employees expected to work at the warehouse.

It will have enough parking for 1,002 employees and vendor vehicles.

The larger office space includes first-day training classrooms, a career choice classroom, a wellness center with observation rooms, conference rooms, interview rooms and a recruiting office.

It also has “hotel offices” for visiting administrative employees to work. Break rooms and restrooms are located throughout the facility.

The warehouse will have 98 docking bays for trucks, and 390 truck parking stalls.

Because there is a residential area directly to the south of Project Oyster, the company will build a 15-foot high sound wall between the warehouse and Lakeview Mobile Home Park.

Project Pearl

Pearl comes in at 1,049,760 square feet with about 20,000 square feet of office space. That warehouse will not feature a mezzanine.

While it is the smaller of the two, it will have more loading capacity.

Pearl is set to have 110 loading stalls for trucks, as well as 48 spots for small box trucks and 48 spots for vans. It will have 304 trailer parking stalls, and 542 employee parking spaces.

Pearl will have about 100 more trucks in and out daily than its counterpart.

The office area includes a large break room, training rooms, a conference room and offices. Pearl also has break rooms and restrooms throughout the warehouse floor.

Last week, crews were pressure washing the exterior concrete, which likely indicates they’ll soon be doing facade work similar to its sister warehouse.

Hiring

With completion of the warehouses on track for late this summer, Amazon will soon begin hiring. The company has been collaborating with the city of Pasco and other Tri-Cities officials to determine the best approach to filling the jobs.

Amazon already employs about 500 people at its call center in Kennewick. The 1,500 new workers needed for the warehouses will make the company one of the largest employers in the Tri-Cities.

Amazon previously told city officials they expect recruiting to be in full swing by mid-summer, and that the training process for employees is expected to take about three days.

All the Amazon jobs in Tri-Cities will be full time, the company said, and will start at $18 an hour and are expected to go up to $22 or $23 per hour.

Washington’s current minimum wage is $14.49.

This story was originally published March 13, 2022 at 5:00 AM.

Cory McCoy

Tri-City Herald

Cory is an award-winning investigative reporter. He joined the Tri-City Herald in Dec. 2021 as an Editor/Reporter covering social accountability issues. His past work can be found in the Tyler Morning Telegraph and other Texas newspapers. He was a 2019-20 Education Writers Association Fellow, and has been featured on The Murder Tapes, Grave Mysteries and Crime Watch Daily with Chris Hansen.