Wichita mayor confirms Amazon site near Jabara Airport

UPDATE, July 2, 2020:

Amazon will open a distribution site in Wichita possibly by the fall with more than 100 new jobs, city officials confirmed Thursday.

During a news conference Thursday, Assistant City Manager Scot Rigby said the building near 37th and Webb, just west of WSU Tech and near Jabara Airport, could be “outfitted and ready for operation” by the fall. He said Amazon will occupy a roughly 140,000-square-foot facility. The building is one of three buildings Wichita constructed as part of a “speculative industrial building” program that started in December 2018.

“In today’s age, the day of where a company comes and then waits for 15 to 18 months to build a facility, those days are gone,” Rigby said. “Much like Amazon, which promises next day delivery, they are looking for facilities that are ready to go immediately.”

He said the building “came on” a few weeks ago. The distribution center will add about 100 jobs plus contracted positions, Rigby said.

Amazon said the site could be for a “combination of large items as well as the usual products,” Rigby said.

Mayor Brandon Whipple said it would be one of Amazon’s “smaller distribution sites.”

Original story, May 31, 2020:

For the better part of two years, there’s been talk in certain circles that Amazon is coming to the Wichita market.

Now, sources say it’s finally happening in the form of a distribution center, though it doesn’t seem to be a typical warehouse for all the products Amazon sells.

Instead, it sounds like the warehouse — at 4044 N. Toben, near 37th and Rock in northeast Wichita — will be mostly for larger products. Think of big appliances, such as refrigerators and washers and dryers, and sporting goods such as bicycles and kayaks.

No one with the Seattle-based company is confirming the warehouse.

“We are constantly exploring new locations and weighing a variety of factors when deciding where to develop sites to best serve customers, however, we don’t provide information on our future roadmap,” Amazon spokeswoman Jen Crowcroft said in an e-mail.

Signs have pointed to a warehouse for some time.

In June of 2019, Kansas City-based Amazon Flex drivers — the drivers who make it possible for same-day and other Prime deliveries in markets where Amazon has warehouses — first got a hint that something might be happening in Wichita.

Through an app that they use, Flex drivers had the ability to download offline maps of the Wichita area — maps that drivers can use if their online maps don’t work. Drivers were under the impression that a new warehouse was coming.

In March of this year, Flex drivers began delivering Whole Foods Market grocery orders. It’s the first time that Amazon has used local drivers in Wichita, but it’s not clear if the offline maps were for grocery deliveries or warehouse deliveries that didn’t materialize last year.

Also last summer, word circulated at Wichita post offices that packages would diminish for carriers who normally deliver Amazon products. They were told some kind of change was coming last fall, but it never did.

Around the same time that talk was particularly strong about Amazon activity, there was confirmation of an Amazon distribution center in Richmond, Va., that sounds a lot like the one Amazon will open in Wichita.

According to a July article in the Richmond Times-Dispatch, the “warehouse will be a fulfillment center that handles large products as well as a last-mile delivery center to the Richmond market.”

The speculative warehouse was almost 500,000 square feet.

Though much smaller, the Wichita building on North Toben also may be a speculative warehouse — nothing has been in the gleaming new building to date.

The nondescript building, which is in several shades of gray, has a long series of loading docks on its east side.

The building, which faces 39th Street, is between Evergy and Rew Materials.

In addition to this center for larger products, sources say Amazon also has considered putting a customer fulfillment center — meaning some type of call center — in the Wichita area.

Also, the company looked at putting a small distribution center, or “delivery station,” here for all of its products — not just the larger ones.

However, sources say it would not be one of the gigantic centers that Amazon has in larger cities.

“It’s not the Amazon we’re all dreaming of,” as one person put it last year.

It’s not clear if the smaller distribution center or a call center of some sort are still possibilities, though it’s a good bet that at least the second warehouse may happen.

There is a smattering of jobs posted for Amazon in the Wichita area, including one that went live this past week.

“Hiring Immediately: Amazon Warehouse with Amazon Warehouse.com,” a Rapid Recruiting listing says.

“Easy Application Amazon Warehouse Jobs Hiring For All Positions at $16-$35+/Hour + Benefits.”

The site lists Amazon warehouse and delivery jobs along with work-from-home options.

In addition to delivery products, it sounds like the center may offer a pick-up option for shoppers to make same-day purchases.

The center is expected to open yet this year — possibly as soon as late summer or early fall.

Look for more information as it becomes available.

This story was originally published May 31, 2020 at 4:47 AM.