Ecommerce continues to drive North Bay warehouse construction, but Amazon is backing down

Even earlier than buying shortly got here on-line within the early months of the pandemic, e-commerce was a significant driver of constructing giant warehouses in North Bay. However this yr has seen each demand for big areas within the area and one of many world’s main e-sellers shrink on an area scale.

2017 and 2018 noticed big commitments to North Bay areas for e-commerce startups. Scandinavian furnishings and homeware retailer Ikea has leased 646,000 sq. toes at Napa Logistics Park in American Canyon.

Marin County-based house decor and furnishings retailer Serena & Lily leased half of the NorthBay Logistics Middle’s 840,000-square-foot former grocery distribution middle in Vacaville, then the world’s largest business constructing, and 24Seven Enterprises purchased the opposite half outright. -consumer wine initiatives. WineDirect has launched a 230,000-square-foot achievement middle in American Canyon.

Amazon has dedicated 5 North Bay amenities over the previous 5 years, however solely three have come to fruition. The Seattle-based e-commerce firm first planted the North Bay flag with a 321,000-square-foot Vacaville sorting middle in 2017. In 2020, he signed off on three extra native initiatives by pre-leasing a 202,000-square-foot constructing in Napa. A dedication to lease the 250,000-square-foot Victory Station venture south of Sonoma Metropolis and Logistic Park for a supply station pre-leasing a 617,000-square-foot warehouse on the NorthBay Logistics Middle.

And final yr, Amazon additionally dedicated to renting an 180,000-square-foot warehouse on the Airport Enterprise Middle close to the Sonoma County airport through the planning section.

Two Vacaville sorting facilities have been constructed and the Napa Valley supply middle opened. However Amazon has confronted permission points and public opposition to the Victory Station venture as of 2020. Within the first quarter of this yr, Amazon stepped again from its Victory Station and airport zone initiatives.

Then information started to floor throughout the nation that Amazon was delaying or canceling different warehouse initiatives, in addition to exiting rental amenities. This got here as different retailers observed a slowdown in e-commerce development.

Domestically, a slowdown was famous in direct-to-consumer gross sales of UK-based membership big Bare Wines, whose US operations are in Napa. Within the US, Bare Wines employs 162 individuals, principally in Napa, in response to Huffsmith. In October, the corporate introduced 6% layoffs, or 30 positions, as a part of austerity to compensate for false development. The cuts coated 16 positions within the nation, together with 12 within the Denver workplace and 4 in Napa.

“We purchased numerous wine once we thought we would develop sooner in 2021, and so the steadiness of our overstock drawback at present is the nice we have now,” CEO Nick Devlin stated in an investor webcast.

Jeff Quackenbush covers wine, development and actual property. He wrote for the Bay Metropolis Information Service in San Francisco earlier than coming to the Enterprise Journal in 1999. Attain him at jquackenbush@busjrnl.com or 707-521-4256.