It’s official: Turlock Amazon fulfillment center to open in 2022, company announces
Amazon has made official what has been public knowledge for the past several months: It will be opening a million-square-foot fulfillment center in Turlock that will employ 1,000 workers.
The e-commerce retailer confirmed Wednesday some of the details of the fulfillment center, including that it expects to open in mid-2022.
“We are excited to launch this new fulfillment center in the Modesto-Turlock area,” Amazon operations public relations manager Natalie Wolfrom said in an email. “We hope to contribute to this period of recovery and growth in the area with the creation of over 1,000 new jobs.”
Construction already is under way on the center. It is being built on roughly 75 acres off Fulkerth Road just west of Highway 99 in the Turlock Regional Industrial Park.
The Bee reported in April that a million-square-foot warehouse and distribution center with 1,000 workers was planned for the industrial park and there were strong indicators it would be an Amazon facility. The Bee confirmed in July the project was an Amazon fulfillment center based on emails it received from Turlock through a California Public Records Act request.
Turlock officials would not comment because they said the city had signed a nondisclosure agreement in July 2020 with the project’s developer, Atlanta-based Seefried Industrial Properties.
Seefried and Amazon officials would not comment either. The property owner — a New York-based real estate holding company, which closed on the land purchases in March — did not respond to several requests for comment. (Amazon confirmed it will be leasing the facility.)
But Turlock officials were ready to comment now.
“Who wouldn’t be thrilled to add Amazon’s name recognition to the top-tier companies that have chosen the Turlock Regional Industrial Park as home for multimillion-dollar facilities with job opportunities?” Mayor Amy Bublak said in a text. “California is a difficult climate for new business but this City Council is committed to making Turlock a thriving location to create or expand businesses.”
The roughly 2,600-acre industrial park already is home to such companies as Foster Farms, Sunnyside Farms, Hilmar Cheese, US Cold Storage, Valley Milk and Blue Diamond Growers.
Interim City Manager Sarah Eddy said in an email, “The City of Turlock welcomes Amazon and the many jobs their project brings to our community. With both year-around and seasonal jobs, the Amazon project provides multiple kinds of employment opportunities for Turlock residents.”
Amazon said it was too soon to release other details and would have more to say as it got closer to opening the fulfillment center.
Those details include the breakdown of part- and full-time workers, how to apply for a job and how long it will take Amazon to reach 1,000 employees. Amazon did confirm the fulfillment center will be one of its nonsortable centers, which “ship bulky or larger-sized customer items such as patio furniture, outdoor equipment, or rugs,” according to Amazon’s website.
The Turlock fulfillment center increases Amazon’s footprint in the Northern San Joaquin Valley. It operates facilities in Patterson, Manteca, Tracy and Stockton.
Amazon on Wednesday also released its 2021 U.S. Economic Impact Report, which stated that since 2010, the company has invested $530 billion in the United States, including more than $81 billion in California. The report also stated Amazon has created more than 150,000 jobs in California.
Bee reporter Kristin Lam contributed to this report.
This story was originally published August 11, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
