Amazon at Needham Ranch Site

Amazon.com Inc. is ready to take a major presence in the Santa Clarita Valley. The e-commerce giant will occupy a 97,357-square-foot building at The Center at Needham Ranch, a 54-acre industrial park developed by Trammell Crow and Clarion Partners, as the site for its latest fulfillment station. Amazon already has a major hub operating out of Thousand Oaks and is expected to lease 100,000 square feet at the incoming Avion complex in Burbank, courtesy of developer Overton Moore Properties. “We have received building plans to improvements on a building at Needham Ranch,” the city of Santa Clarita’s Planning, Marketing and Economic Development Manager Jason Crawford confirmed to the Business Journal May 22. Based on the warehouse square-footage mentioned and previous Business Journal reports, Amazon will occupy The Center’s building no. 6, which spans 97,357 square feet. While there is no hard date on when Amazon may take occupancy of the warehouse, Crawford said the city is working with the Seattle-based company to advance their requested tenant improvements. “We have the plans, we are reviewing them,” Crawford said. “They want to move quickly.” The completed phase I of Needham Ranch has six buildings for a total of 900,000 square feet. Phase II, another 500,000 square feet, is scheduled to begin construction later this summer. With Amazon, The Center at Needham Ranch has now secured its second tenant, following the recent move-in of Illumination Dynamics, an entertainment industry equipment company that was formerly based in the city of San Fernando. Illumination Dynamics committed to a long-term lease at the 67,600 square-foot building no. 1 at the industrial park, located off Highway 14 at 21355 Needham Ranch Parkway. In February, Trammell Crow’s John Balestra and Craig Peters, one of the complex’s two CBRE leasing agents, gave the Business Journal a guided tour of both phase I and phase II property at Needham Ranch. At the time, they mentioned that they were negotiating with incoming tenants for the 97,357-square-foot building no. 6 and building no. 5, which covers another 126,439 square feet. Balestra estimated that negotiations with both tenants would close by late March. An announcement has not yet been made regarding any occupancy of building no. 5. While Balestra could not comment regarding Amazon as the deal was still being firmed up, he told the Business Journal May 22, “In the wake of COVID-19, we are seeing a dramatic increase in the already growing e-commerce spending and with it, we have seen a significant increase in the need for last-mile distribution centers in proximity to high population density.” “Amazon is a great brand,” Crawford said. “It’s very exciting to be welcoming them to the city. …. We’re excited to bring in Amazon and Illumination Dynamics, brand new businesses with jobs, to the Santa Clarita Valley, especially at a time like this with the COVID crisis.”