March 30, 2021 (Seattle, WA)

Amazon and other retailers are going the last mile in the Covid-19 economy, and that’s delivering to Seattle-area industrial and warehouse investors.

“Toward the end of April, e-commerce just took off. It has absolutely just gone bananas. A tremendous amount of unprecedented growth,” says Vanessa Herzog, principal at Lee & Associates of Seattle and a member of the Society of Industrial and Office Realtors [SIOR]. “Amazon is taking down millions and millions of square feet of space along the I-5 corridor and into high-density population areas for their last-mile delivery. No one really knows how much square footage they’re going to end up with at the end of the day.”

Amazon is secretive about its logistical network, but brokers estimate the company occupies millions of square feet in the region. Last month, the company opened a distribution center in Everett, with plans to open four more.