re: Amazon's Baton Rouge DC to be completed by August '22; Demo of Cortana to start in May '21

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This article says Something starts in May 2021 and ends in August 2022.

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That something is demo of the old mall. It starts in May 2021.

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Guess what, today is Mar 11th, 2021 and the first brick hasn't been demolished yet.

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Because it’s not May yet, genius.

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Like I said, come back and eat your crow in August 2022.

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How long do you think it takes to build a giant warehouse? I bet Amazon is closer to their target top off than they are to your swinging wild arse guess.

So will this bring same day delivery to BR?

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You sound a lot like other people I know in the PM world in construction who think saying something makes it so.

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I’ve had the misfortune of dealing with clients just like Amazon.

They have massive plans to expand across the globe and everyone wants a piece of that business. And they have absolutely no problem squeezing suppliers and contractors. If they want this thing built by August of next year, they will probably get it or come damn close to it.

And what’s your prediction? Still afraid to type it out?

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I say 18 months to 20 months just guessing before they are in operation.

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In operation is different from completing the building.

I think it will take much, much longer to get fully staffed and to build an inventory than to complete the building.

This isn’t Cabelas. This is Amazon and they make Wal Mart contractors look like house builders.

It will be ready because contrary to what you believe they do have the money to make it happen. They also build it upfront on construction cost and allow the contractors to include the Dollar values in their contract. They also have extreme early completion clauses that double the extreme liquidated damages clause.

They also have been know to bring in other contractors at their own expense in order to keep a project on schedule.

They are unlike anything ever seen in commercial construction. They set a target and they hit it because their supply chain depends on it and it is growing massively daily.

Bookmark it. I’ll put my money on Amazon.

And the existing Cortana has no lead or asbestos that has to be abated. It’s completely general construction debris although some will be recycled. The only asbestos in the building was the base flashing on the main facility roof which was removed when a new roof was installed around 2000, most floors are terrazzo and no lead paint was used in the original construction.

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They are unlike anything ever seen in commercial construction. They set a target and they hit it because their supply chain depends on it and it is growing massively daily.

Bookmark it. I’ll put my money on Amazon.

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I agree. This isn’t the first time they’ve done this. They know what they are doing.

The sooner the better. Louisiana can use the jobs.

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That doesn't conflict with the concept of having fulfillment centers in NOLA, as well.

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I hate to see the condition of the bricks and mortar stores if the fulfillment center at Cortana becomes too small to handle regional demand for consumer goods. Yikes.

WTH are we going to do with all of that empty retail space?

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The facility will be more than 2.9 million square feet—more than twice the size of the mall—and is expected to eventually employ as many as 3,500 full- and part-time workers.

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So roughly 1700 employee parking spaces and two shifts. I guess these places are 24 hours. Makes sense that they are estimating up to 3500 employees especially if they include truck/van drivers, IT employees, and support staff.

I haven't seen many multi-story warehouses in this country that were built in the last 100 years. Sears had those crosstown buildings in St. Louis, Chicago, Memphis, and Minneapolis to support their mail order business...but most warehouses in the US now are located on the outskirts of suburban areas and are typically single level.

Amazon's Cortana location will have 5 levels.

BTW - if any of you haven't seen the automation that goes into an Amazon fulfillment center, you should youtube it. There are some really interesting robotics and inventory management systems going on in those places. It's like one giant consumer goods dispenser with employees picking, packing, and loading from containers driven by automated pallets and robots. The one at Cortana will likely have every tool available to Amazon. It's going to be one of the largest in the world.

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I haven't seen many multi-story warehouses in this country that were built in the last 100 years. Sears had those crosstown buildings in St. Louis, Chicago, Memphis, and Minneapolis to support their mail order business...but most warehouses in the US now are located on the outskirts of suburban areas and are typically single level.

Amazon's Cortana location will have 5 levels.

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Is it 5 levels... or is it 5 stories tall? Meaning just one really tall level?

There's an old Ford plant in Arabi that is two levels and has an elevator that was used to get vehicles between floors. I think they would start assembly on second floor, drop it down to the first, and then finish on first floor and roll out door.