Progress continues on major Amazon expansion at Colorado Springs Airport
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) -- A year after the project was announced, the new Amazon facility gradually takes shape at the south end of the business park owned by the Colorado Springs Airport.
Last February, city officials held a news conference to confirm that Amazon, the technology and delivery giant, would build a "fulfillment center" to process customer orders and hire more than 1,000 employees.
The center is currently 800,000 square feet but is expected to eventually expand to five times that size -- 4 million square feet. It's believed that it will be one of Colorado's largest buildings when it opens.
During last year's announcement, airport director Greg Phillips said that the project has a 15-month construction schedule, meaning that it could open this June.
However, it's unclear whether the COVID-19 pandemic will delay the opening date, and an Amazon spokesperson wouldn't say when operations will begin at the center.
"I think that the initial process and construction and timelines, etc., can be tricky to speak to," said Dana Schield, an airport spokeswoman. "So I think that's why there's a little ambiguity there."
The center is across the road from a new Amazon delivery center that opened two years ago.
Amazon began taking applications for the upcoming openings last year. The spokesperson said that hiring will begin two months before the opening date, although she didn't say how many people have applied.
As part of the project, local officials are creating a new intersection near the Amazon facilities at Powers and Grinnell boulevards. Turn lanes in both directions will be added. Traffic on Powers is reduced to one lane in each direction through the work zone.
Grinnell, which formerly ended to the north at Goldfield Drive, is being extended several blocks to connect to Powers.
The intersection was supposed to be finished by now, but officials announced Thursday that the project will continue until early March because of unexpected underground conditions, additional time required for utility relocations, weather and snow events.
A traffic signal at the intersection of Milton E. Proby Parkway (along the airport's main entrance) and Peak Innovation Way (the entrance into the business park) also is part of the project.
"We are going to see a rise in traffic in this area -- which in turn, I think, will obviously help the airport," Schield said. "And we'll be working with the businesses at the businesses park to hopefully coordinate with airport services. That could mean more people eating at airport restaurants or visiting other new businesses that are coming here because of Amazon/"
