Photo by Josh Resnek
By Josh Resnek
A 220,000 square foot monster facility developed by the Davis Companies and subsequently leased to Amazon near to the Produce Center on the Everett Chelsea line is being closed, according to a release from Amazon company spokesperson Caitlin McLaughlin, in a report published by Banker and Tradesman the authoritative real estate publication.
The facility was built by the Davis Companies following an enormous effort and a large capital investment in land and required environmental and structural mandates which had to be met in order to complete construction and to allow for occupancy.
Davis Companies redeveloped an Everett produce sorting warehouse into the Amazon delivery center there in 2020.
Amazon leased the location from Davis.
The location will now be empty following the company’s decision to close it, as well as four other locations nearby.
It is believed the Everett property might be sub-leased by Amazon but nothing specific has yet to be decided.
This could be perceived either as a dramatic setback or a new opportunity in the effort now gaining traction with the Davis Companies to build up to 4 million square feet of office space, residences, manufacturing and high tech on a nearby 95 acre parcel Davis Companies is about to buy from Exxon Mobil.
McLaughlin attributed the move to a desire to “up- grade” the company’s facilities, but the company has also embarked on an effort to trim its physical footprint, with Chief Financial Officer Brian Olsavsky telling investors during the company’s first-quarter earnings call that Amazon had discovered it had invested in too much warehouse and delivery space during the early days of the pandemic when its e-commerce sales were growing by leaps and bounds, according to the report appearing in Banker and Tradesman.
Four additional locations are being closed.
Amazon’s Randolph delivery center was built on the site of a former Bob’s Discount Furniture store owned by Atlantic Management Corp., which subsequently sold the property to a Hawaii investment management firm for $44 million in 2021. The Dedham delivery center is owned by an affiliate of AEW Capital Management, while the Milford facility is owned by an affiliate of Cabot Properties and the Mansfield property is owned by an affiliate of The Seyon Group.
Davis companies representatives did not comment on the matter for the Leader Herald.