Amazon has plans to open a warehouse in Northwest Arkansas

Records reveal OK for permits


Amazon.com intends to open a warehouse in Northwest Arkansas, according to publicly available documents.

It would be the global technology, streaming and retail company's first foray into the backyard of Walmart Inc., one of its chief competitors, and the fastest growing part of the state

An affiliate of the Seattle-based company, Amazon.com Services LLC, has obtained permits from the Arkansas Environmental Quality Division to operate a "general warehousing and storage" facility at 315B S. Lincoln St. in the Benton County city of Lowell.

The permits were approved Sept. 9, according to the records, accessed through an online database the division maintains.

The address is the location of a 24.7-acre property owned since 2015 by Rogers Warehouse Development LLC, according to the Benton County assessor's office. It is about 12 miles from Walmart's headquarters in Bentonville.

The limited liability corporation's registration paperwork at the Arkansas secretary of state's office lists Bill McClard and Crossland Holdings Co. LLC as the managers.

Until recently, McClard, senior vice president and executive broker with Lindsey & Associates, the residential and commercial real estate firm, was on a team that was marketing the property Amazon is converting to its use.

McClard declined comment and referred any questions about the property to Mattie Crossland, director of Crossland Realty. She didn't return a telephone call Tuesday afternoon.

The property holds a 100,000-square-foot warehouse with nine "dock-high doors," three "drive-in doors" and 6 acres of "yard space" that was built in 2004. It had been listed on several commercial real estate databases since July 2020. However, those listings have been pulled.

The size of the warehouse suggests it is being positioned as a "last-mile" delivery center. Fulfillment centers prepare customer orders, which are then delivered in bulk to the "last-mile" delivery center. There, the orders are picked up by small delivery vans to make the final deliveries to customer doorsteps.

It would be the third such facility in the state. Amazon has one in Little Rock to serve its sortable fulfillment center at the Port of Little Rock and another in Maumelle, which serves its non-sortable fulfillment center in North Little Rock. Non-sortable products sold by Amazon or its third-party vendors typically are bulky items such as appliances.

Amazon has been building out its logistic network to ensure more and more of the customers in its loyalty club, Prime, can have their items delivered one day after they're ordered.

A construction permit has been obtained by Crossland Construction from Lowell's Risk Reduction Division, according to a person who answered the telephone Tuesday afternoon.

An Amazon spokesman was not immediately able to elaborate on the plans, first reported Tuesday by the Arkansas Blog, an online news and opinion site.


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