The e-commerce giant Amazon plans to buy an industrial property in Roanoke and build a 125,000-square-foot distribution center there, according to public documents.
Deschutes Brewery bought the 49-acre site at 2002 Blue Hills Drive N.E. in the Roanoke Centre for Industry and Technology in 2018 for $3.2 million via a limited liability company, Blue Hill Drive LLC. The sale came a little over two years after the beer maker announced it would construct an $85 million brewing facility there.
Deschutes ultimately was unable to build the facility because of a “substantial downturn” in the craft brewing industry exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a letter from Roanoke City Manager Bob Cowell included in the agenda packet for Monday’s Roanoke City Council meeting.
In the first quarter of this year, Deschutes entered into negotiations to sell the site to Amazon.com Services LLC, Cowell’s letter states.
“The addition of this company will be consistent with services offered by other tenants within [the Roanoke Centre for Industry and Technology] and will serve as an excellent addition to our local economy,” the letter states.
Other businesses in the 440-acre Roanoke industrial park include Advance Auto Parts, Elizabeth Arden, FedEx Ground and Orvis.
It’s unclear how many jobs an Amazon facility would bring, when the sale might close, or what the sale price of the property would be.
“We’re working with the City of Roanoke and local economic development partners regarding the potential for locating a last-mile delivery facility in the area,” Amazon spokesperson Ian Allen-Anderson said in a statement Friday, referring to a facility where customer orders are prepared for delivery. “Progress has been made, but this is still tentative in nature and additional steps remain. We look forward to being able to share more in the future.”
Deschutes officials could not be reached for comment Friday.
An email sent to Cowell elicited a reply from Communications and Community Engagement Specialist Tracy Lauder, who referred Cardinal News to the city’s Economic Development division. That division’s director, Marc Nelson, declined to comment Friday.
John Hull, executive director of the Roanoke Regional Partnership, a regional economic development organization, also declined to comment Friday.
The matter is coming before the Roanoke City Council because how the property can be used is currently restricted by a related federal grant.
When plans for the Deschutes brewery were still active, the city entered into an agreement with the U.S. Economic Development Administration to extend Blue Hills Drive Northeast, with the EDA paying half of the approximately $3 million cost.
But that agreement included a restriction on the deed that limited the property to manufacturing use, which differs from Amazon’s plan.
Cowell is recommending that the Roanoke City Council amend the deed and also approve a plan to use proceeds from the sale of the property to repay the federal grant, freeing the property from the restriction.
The relationship between Deschutes and Roanoke began in late 2014, when the Star City was among 50 locations brewery officials visited while scouting spots for its first East Coast facility, according to The Roanoke Times.
The effort to bring Deschutes to Roanoke was bolstered by a grassroots campaign that included thousands of supporters, many of whom gathered under the banner of a “Deschutes 2 Roanoke” Facebook page created in 2015 by Michael Galliher, a Roanoke County deputy clerk of circuit court who was elected this past November to serve as clerk of court.
“The community got really behind the Deschutes campaign and I think that goes to show you exactly what kind of community that we live in — very supportive and they want to see future growth of this area,” Galliher said Friday.
Deschutes opened a tasting room in downtown Roanoke in 2017. The site was intended to be only temporary until the Bend, Oregon-based brewery could open its larger facility in the Roanoke business park, according to the Times.
The Blue Hills Drive brewing facility was put on hold in 2019, and Deschutes announced in 2021 that it would close the downtown tasting room at the end of that year, citing the impact of the coronavirus pandemic. Olde Salem Brewing Company later moved into that location at 315 Market St. Southeast.
“Honestly, I think the writing was on the wall when they decided to shut down the Deschutes tasting room,” Galliher said.
Nonetheless, Galliher said, Amazon would be a good fit for the Roanoke region.
“It was disappointing to see things fall through, but completely understandable from a business decision,” he said. “But it’s also very exciting to hear a company like Amazon choose Roanoke Valley to further their growth and the growth of Roanoke Valley.”
Since its founding in 1994, Seattle-based Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) has become a household name in e-commerce, streaming content and web services.
It has more than 30 fulfillment centers, sorting centers and delivery stations in Virginia and employs more than 30,000 full- and part-time workers across the commonwealth, according to a February 2022 news release from Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s office announcing a fulfillment center in Augusta County.
Amazon is currently building its second headquarters, dubbed HQ2, in Arlington.
Founded in 1988, Deschutes Brewery has locations in Bend and Portland, Oregon. It sells more than 225,000 barrels of beer annually in 32 states and in other countries, according to its website.
