Amazon’s plans to grow its Wilmington-area footprint are moving forward. 

The e-commerce giant announced plans to build an approximately 142,000-square-foot facility on 54 acres inside Pender Commerce Park. Nearly three years later, Atlanta-based Seefried Industrial Properties, an agent representing Amazon, submitted a major site development application to Pender County for the project last week.

When the project was announced in 2022, the facility was expected to create more than 100 full-time jobs, with starting wages of $15 an hour and benefits. However, the project application states the center, which plans refer to as a “truck transportation facility,” could employ about 400 people.

Plans for the facility include a substantial number of parking spaces for associates, vans and trucks. Plans show 686 parking spaces in the facility’s van parking lot, 275 associate parking spaces and 12 stalls in the facility’s truck yard.

The application notes the project previously received approval from the county’s technical review committee in 2021. The plans are scheduled to go before the committee again on Feb. 6.

In addition to the delivery station, an Amazon spokesperson recently confirmed the company’s plans to build a second facility – a fulfillment center – on the border of New Hanover and Pender counties.

According to Amazon public relations specialist Greg Rios, the fulfillment center project broke ground in October on a more than 170-acre tract Amazon purchased last summer. The site was once home to the former BASF vitamin plant, which closed in 2009.

Rios declined to share additional details about the fulfillment center project or its timeline but said more information would be available during a groundbreaking ceremony scheduled for Feb. 20. Wilmington Business Development representatives also confirmed the groundbreaking event but couldn’t provide additional information about Amazon's project.

According to the company's website, its fulfillment centers can range in size from 600,000 to 1 million square feet and employ 1,000 workers or more.

Permit records show Pender County issued a permit for new commercial construction described as “Project Whale” on Oct. 11, 2024, for the former BASF plant site. The Business Journal has requested a copy of the site’s construction plans from Pender County but did not receive them before the publication deadline.

Pender County Communications Manager Brandi Cobb stated the county had spent more than $1.7 million remediating the former vitamin plant property. The remediation began in Aug. 2021 and finished Aug. 2022. Cobb also confirmed that Pender County received $500,000 from the Golden Leaf Foundation to offset the costs of removing old buildings and dormant infrastructure on the property.

When the grant was approved in Dec. 2021, the Business Journal reported that grant approval documents indicated the site was slated for an undisclosed economic development project that would create 1,000 new full-time jobs paying an average salary of $31,200.  

Rios, the Amazon spokesperson, said having two facilities in the area will help the company get packages to customers more quickly. Since 2010, Rios said Amazon has invested $9.2 billion in North Carolina, creating more than 24,000 jobs.