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Amazon, Home Depot sign on as tenants to multi-story Seattle warehouse

Amazon and Home Depot have both leased space in a multi-story warehouse in Georgetown Crossroadss in Seattle. (Photo: Prologis)

“If you build it, they will come.”

They prophesy has come true as a multi-story warehouse building built in Seattle by commercial real-estate giant Prologis (NYSE: PLD) has its first tenants: Amazon and Home Depot.

Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) will take almost 500,000 square feet of space and Home Depot (NYSE: HD) nearly 100,000, according to the Wall Street Journal. The three-story building is reportedly 590,000 square feet and located minutes from downtown Seattle and the port.

FreightWaves previously reported that the first floor occupies more than 239,000 square feet, has a 28-foot clear height, 130 truck courts, and 60 truck aprons. The second floor, with more than 170,000 square feet, has a 24-foot clear height and an elevated 130-foot court served by two ramps that can accommodate big rigs. Level 3, at more than 180,000 square feet, has a 16-foot clear height and two loading docks supported by three forklift-accessible freight elevators.


Vertical warehouses are not common in the U.S. – the Seattle facility may be the first in America – but are growing more popular in Asia and Europe. Typically, a vertical warehouse allows for more storage of goods closer to their end destination.

A Home Depot spokesperson told the Wall Street Journal that was precisely what drove it to Prologis’ Seattle facility. The goal is to reach 90% of its shoppers with same-day or next-day delivery service and the only way to achieve that is to locate warehouses closer to city centers. With land at a premium for large, sprawling warehouses, going vertical is a logical solution.

E-commerce is playing a large role in the push to locate warehouses closer to end customers, as well as low vacancy rates for existing facilities.

At least two other multi-story warehouse facilities are planned for New York City.


Prologis Ventures, the venture capital arm of Prologis, is an investor in FreightWaves.

Brian Straight

Brian Straight leads FreightWaves' Modern Shipper brand as Managing Editor. A journalism graduate of the University of Rhode Island, he has covered everything from a presidential election, to professional sports and Little League baseball, and for more than 10 years has covered trucking and logistics. Before joining FreightWaves, he was previously responsible for the editorial quality and production of Fleet Owner magazine and fleetowner.com. Brian lives in Connecticut with his wife and two kids and spends his time coaching his son’s baseball team, golfing with his daughter, and pursuing his never-ending quest to become a professional bowler. You can reach him at [email protected].