Amazon has acquired a former insulation factory in Santa Clara, California.
BizJournal reports, citing records, that Amazon acquired the site for $237.8 million, located at 960 Central Expressway just west of San Jose Mineta International Airport.
It's unclear what the company aims to do with the site – a previous proposal aimed to develop one large logistics warehouse and two smaller buildings that could be used as either warehouses or data centers. It is located close to Digital Realty, Colovore, Vantage, and Cyxtera data centers, as well as Nvidia facilities.
The site was previously owned by Owens Corning, which produces insulation, roofing, and fiberglass composites. The company first announced plans to shutter the site in 2021, and closed it last year. Currently, the site is occupied by 747,424 square feet of industrial warehouse buildings and 130,00 square feet of covered truck loading docks and surface parking.
Logistics developer Panattoni was then set to acquire the site for $240 million, according to an SEC filing. The company had filed with the city to develop three speculative buildings totaling up to 890,000 square feet; one two-story facility for warehousing and two smaller buildings for either warehousing and/or data center uses. The two single-story buildings would each span 204,465 sq ft (19,000 sqm).
However, before completing the acquisition, Panattoni transferred the purchase agreement to Amazon, Owens spokesman Todd Romain told BJ. He confirmed the sale to Amazon, saying it was part of the company's previously announced plan to shut down the factory and dispose of the site, but declined to comment further.
Amazon and Panattoni declined to comment to the publication.
While a delivery warehouse is entirely possible, Amazon has paused a number of warehouse development projects in the last 12+ months alongside efforts to exit or sublease various warehouse leases. Last year the company noted it had over-extended on the warehouse side of the business amid the Covid boom and was making efforts to scale back in the wake of lower demand.
AWS has an existing data center around three miles north at 2305 Mission College Blvd and likely building a second facility on the site.
The company is also developing a campus in the City of Gilroy, to the south of Santa Clara. It is also leasing a new data center from Hines further north in Hayward.