ICYMI: Amazon touted hundreds of new jobs for Meridian warehouse. It never opened

ICYMI 2022
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Amazon issued a news release last summer, touting the addition of hundreds of jobs to Meridian. The large building that would employ all those workers has been completed for months. On a visit late last week, there wasn’t a single person around.

The Seattle-based e-commerce giant touted the planned facility with lots of numbers and stats: 140,000 square feet, “hundreds” of jobs, at least $15 hour wages and ways to help “local entrepreneurs.

“Amazon is excited to continue investing in the state of Idaho, adding great jobs as well as business opportunities for local residents,” Amazon Director of Logistics Michelle Godwin-Watts said in the release.

Amazon’s release in May of 2021 said the center would open “early next year.” The building wrapped up last winter, on track to welcome the hundreds of new employees. But as winter turned to spring, and spring to summer, the center sits empty.

In May, Adler Industrial, which developed the property for Amazon, sold the property. REBusiness said Florida-based Carter Exchange purchased the site, which is reflected in BoiseDev’s check of property records.

Will Amazon eventually open at the location, or has it abandoned plans for the Meridian site? The Wall Street Journal reported in May that it was “attempting to shed some warehouse space following a slowdown the company has experienced in its e-commerce operations.”

The Amazon spokesperson who sent last year’s news release is no longer with the company. BoiseDev reached out to the company for comment on the Meridian location last week, but it did not respond.