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RENO, Nev. (AP) — Amazon intends to move its distribution warehouse from Fernley to an industrial park north of Reno next year, a move that will shift hundreds of jobs from Lyon to Washoe County.
Amazon's fulfillment center that opened in Fernley in 1999 employs 600 to 900 employees year-round and as many as 4,000 during the holiday season.
Amazon spokeswoman Ashley Robinson said in emails to two Reno television stations that all employees will be offered the chance to transfer to Reno, about 30 miles west of Fernley.
"Amazon remains committed to its fulfillment center employees in Northern Nevada," Robinson said. "We are excited for the investment we're making in this new building to fulfill customer orders."
KRNV-TV first reported on Friday that the new facility will be housed in the LogistiCenter 395 that Dermody Properties is building off of Lemmon Drive just north of Reno.
The current warehouse covers 750,000 square feet.
When completed in the next few years, the LogistiCenter complex will feature three buildings with a total of 1.2 million square feet of warehouse space on a 91-acre site overlooking U.S. 395.
Dermody CEO Michael Dermody told the Reno Gazette-Journal he had no comment. The newspaper reported in March that graders were at work at the soon-to-be 624,000-square-foot warehouse-distribution center in north Reno that Dermody said at the time did not have a tenant.
The first phase is set to open in the fall, with 36-foot clear heights, allowing higher-profile trucks to enter, and 140 truck docks in a structure that developers say will target e-commerce tenants.
Rob Hooper of the Northern Nevada Development Authority told KOLO-TV the move will be "a huge blow" to the town of Fernley and its population of about 19,000. But he said he's excited Amazon will be staying in northern Nevada.
"It will provide many new opportunities," he said.
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