As Amazon closes warehouses or drops plans for them across the country, it is delaying the opening of a last-mile facility in North Versailles, while another in Lawrenceville appears to be on hold.
The 141,386-square-foot North Versailles facility at the site of the former Eastland shopping center has just about been finished. The only thing missing is Amazon itself.
North Versailles Commissioner Allen Wagner, who oversees development and planning for the township, said the online retail giant has indicated that the opening could be delayed until the fourth quarter of next year.
At one time, North Versailles officials had hoped that the building, erected by developer Trammell Crow Co., would open this year.
But Mr. Wagner believes the Seattle online retail giant is still committed to the facility, even as it shuts down or abandons plans for dozens of warehouses elsewhere, including a controversial one in Churchill.
“I know it’s listed as an Amazon facility right now,” he said. “From some internal people I know at Amazon, it’s just a matter of supply chain issues.”
Because of such supply issues, the e-commerce juggernaut has had difficulty getting parts to finish the building, including components for the air conditioning units on the roof, Mr. Wagner said.
It also is working to get power to the charging stations that will be located in the parking lot to provide juice to electric delivery vans.
Despite the delays, Mr. Wagner is confident that Amazon will deliver on its commitment to open the facility, which is expected to bring 800 jobs and big benefits to the township.
“The building is up. They even planted grass out there. It’s looking good,” he said.
In Lawrenceville, meanwhile, neighborhood officials are wondering what is happening with a last-mile facility Amazon has been planning at the former Sears Outlet at 27 51st St.
The company confirmed at the end of 2020 that it intended to take all 260,000 square feet of space in the building.
But the proposal has run into trouble with residents and neighborhood groups Lawrenceville United and Lawrenceville Corp. They have raised concerns about traffic and related impacts, and whether the development aligns with the community master plan.
After a neighborhood meeting with Amazon in June 2021, both organizations sent a letter to the company expressing disappointment over its “disregard for community plans, priorities, and concerns.”
Representatives for the two neighborhood groups said they haven’t received anything from Amazon in quite some time. The last they heard the project was on hold.
“I haven’t heard from Amazon in many, many months. Every time I checked in, they told us there were no updates to report,” said David Breingan, Lawrenceville United executive director.
It’s hard to tell whether the online retailer is still interested in pursuing the project, he added.
“I really don’t know. We’re not getting any information so it’s hard to speculate what their intent is,” he said.
For its part, Amazon did not have an update on either the North Versailles or Lawrenceville sites. In March, it reported that both were “in the planning stages.”
The uncertainty comes after Amazon, in a surprise move, ditched plans for a massive Churchill warehouse totaling nearly 3 million square feet that was to be built at the former Westinghouse Research and Technology Park.
That decision came after residents opposed to the project went to court to try to overturn a borough council decision that granted a conditional land permit to Amazon’s developer to move ahead with the construction.
While county Executive Rich Fitzgerald has blamed the loss of the warehouse on the opposition, Amazon has stated that it was “entirely a business decision and not driven by community factors.”
Last spring, Amazon was said to be scouting for other locations in the region to build a similarly-sized warehouse.
The Churchill project isn’t the only one the company has abandoned.
Earlier this month, Bloomberg reported that the retailer has been dumping dozens of existing or planned warehouses as it tries to shrink its extensive delivery network as sales growth slows.
The story cited a report by consulting firm MWPVL International Inc., which estimated that Amazon had either closed or discarded plans to open 42 facilities totaling nearly 25 million square feet.
Furthermore, the company has delayed the opening of another 21 locations totaling close to 28 million square feet, according to MWPVL, which tracks Amazon’s real estate activity.
The adjustments also have affected employee count, with Bloomberg reporting that the Amazon workforce decreased by about 100,000 jobs to 1.52 million in the second quarter.
It described it as the biggest quarter-to-quarter retrenchment in Amazon’s history.
The retailer currently has a handful of facilities in the Pittsburgh region, including a 1-million-square-foot distribution center in Findlay, a sortation facility in the city’s Fairywood neighborhood, and a tech hub at SouthSide Works.
It also reportedly is interested in a 1-million square-foot warehouse being built in New Stanton.
Mark Belko: mbelko@post-gazette.com
First Published: September 16, 2022, 10:00 a.m.
Updated: September 16, 2022, 10:02 a.m.