An intricate network of whirring overhead conveyor belts dominate the interior of the massive warehouse, moving boxes to and from trucks.

Amazon’s Pasco facility is officially up and running, filling a key role in the Seattle-based company’s national delivery system.

The warehouse at 1351 S. Road 40 East in Pasco has been in operation for 11 weeks now, but a grand opening and ribbon-cutting formalized it on Oct. 9.

The facility is a national inbound cross dock which spans over 1 million square feet and has processed 32 million sellable units since opening. It began development in 2021 as a fulfillment center under the code name Project Oyster, along with the warehouse across the street, Project Pearl.

The $107 million warehouse sat empty for months before seeing $10 million in tenant improvements in January of this year, and Amazon announced in June it was hiring more than 1,000 workers.

Thomas Power, site lead for the facility, said that the warehouse is still hiring and aims to employ 1,200 to 1,500 people. It has a management team of 60.

“Hiring is going to probably be somewhat continuous,” he said, as people come and go. 

Amazon will be adding 250,000 seasonal roles across the U.S., with 5,000 jobs in Washington. 

Reimagined facilities

Although regional cross docks have been a part of Amazon’s delivery system, the Pasco facility is one of the first national inbound cross docks, said Cory Fowers, senior operations manager.

The warehouse is the first step in Amazon’s system, receiving shipments of incoming products from vendors and sellers from all over the world, said Easton Craft, regional manager for economic development for Amazon for the Pacific Northwest and Alaska.

After arriving at the national cross dock, products proceed to a regional cross dock, then to a fulfillment center, and last to a delivery station, Power said.

Tri-Citians may have recently noticed faster local Amazon deliveries, but this new facility  doesn’t directly serve customers.

It is helping to reduce national delivery times, Power said. The Pasco warehouse is meant “to optimize the placement of product across the U.S.”

Amazon's warehouse at 1351 S. Road 40 East in Pasco spans over 1 million square feet and has processed 32 million sellable units since opening. 

| Photo by Rachel Visick

The introduction of this type of facility is the reason why there was such a delay between the building’s completion and its opening date, Craft said. 

The warehouse at 1351 S. Road 40 East, near Sacajawea State Park, was originally intended to be a fulfillment center, but as Amazon developed more efficient facilities, “they realized they needed a facility like a cross dock,” he said.

“The delay was really about sort of the reimagining and repurposing of this facility to better meet the needs of Amazon to fulfill orders for our customers,” Craft said. 

Across the street, Amazon’s smaller Project Pearl warehouse is in a similar stage as the company works “to understand how best to utilize that facility within the fulfillment network,” he said. 

Amazon also has a delivery station or “last mile” facility in the works off North Capitol Avenue in Pasco, where customer orders will be prepared for delivery. Craft said Amazon hopes to launch that facility in 2025. 

This particular warehouse won’t see many effects of Prime Days or other busy times for Amazon because of its specialized role, Power said. “It’s going to be steady. We’re going to have a set amount of head count. We might see just a little uptick in peak events, but otherwise than that, we won’t be impacted.”

Community presence

Amazon touts a number of benefits for its employees, including the Career Choice program. “By partnering with local educational institutions, we provide a pathway for our employees to learn new skills and advance their careers,” Power said. 

Washington State University Tri-Cities recently became the first local sponsor for the program. 

Officials cut the ribbon for Amazon's new Pasco facility, a national inbound cross dock, on Oct. 9. 

| Photo by Rachel Visick

Amazon also aims to be “an active, positive presence in the Tri-Cities area,” Power said. The company has contributed more than $150,000 to local nonprofits since 2021, said Keri Pravitz, who leads Amazon’s community engagement in Washington.

During the grand opening ceremony, the company donated $15,000 to Second Harvest of the Inland Northwest for its Mid-Columbia Turkey Drive. 

Pasco Mayor Pete Serrano and Jean Ryckman, president of Port of Pasco’s port commission, welcomed Amazon and the opportunities it brings during the ceremony.

“We’re looking forward to extending (our) partnership,” as Amazon continues to grow, Serrano said. Amazon is “focused on the future,” he said.