Amazon buys Brownsville land; city waits for OK to announce details

Amazon.com Services LLC, formerly Amazon Fulfillment Services Inc., last month purchased a little over 13 acres in the southeast corner of the intersection of FM 511/FM 550/Interstate-169 and Paredes Line Road in Brownsville, according to the Cameron County Clerk’s office.

The seller was Heduma Construction LLC. Amazon.com Services, a subsidiary of Seattle-based Amazon.com, handles warehousing, packaging, delivery and other services for vendors selling through the Seattle-based e-commerce giant.

No official announcement has been made by the company or city or county officials, though former Brownsville mayor Trey Mendez posted on social media on Thursday that Amazon had bought the property with the intention of building a distribution center, noting that the transaction had become public.

This was soon followed by a post from Mayor John Cowen Jr., who wrote: “At this time, the City of Brownsville and the Greater Brownsville Incentives Corporation are not in a position to confirm the potential development but we will release information at the appropriate time.”

“I think the announcement, at least from the city’s side, is premature,” Cowen told The Brownsville Herald Friday morning. “We’re waiting for the official announcement to be made on a potential development there, so that’s something that’s pending on the city and GBIC side.”

Amazon has dozens of warehouses in Texas, including distribution centers and fulfillment centers. The majority are concentrated in and around the state’s major metropolitan areas. An Amazon delivery center opened in McAllen December 2021.

Texas has the second most Amazon facility square footage in the United States, second only to California, according to BigRentz, a national construction equipment rental company.

While Cowen was unable to confirm Amazon’s plans for Brownsville, he did say there were “a couple of official announcements to be made soon.”

“We’re just waiting for the companies to give us the green light to have the press release,” he said.

Meanwhile, GBIC has scheduled a May 22 ceremonial groundbreaking for its newest industrial park, to be called the Greater Brownsville Tech District.

The project will be located along FM 511/FM 550/I-169 between Paredes Line Road and Old Alice Road, about two miles east of the property purchased by Amazon.com Services LLC.

The post Amazon buys Brownsville land; city waits for OK to announce details appeared first on MyRGV.com.