Town of Niagara Amazon facility gearing up for Black Friday 2026

A beautiful sunset backlights the ongoing construction of the Amazon warehouse off Lockport Road in Wheatfield late last month.

James Neiss

TOWN OF NIAGARA — Almost every day on her drive to work, Town of Niagara Supervisor Sylvia Virtuoso gets a reminder that something big — really big — is happening in the town.

As she motors down Lockport Road, she says she marvels at the progress being made on Amazon’s newest, $550 million, fulfillment center.

“It’s their second largest in the country,” Virtuoso said of the 3.1 million-square-foot facility.

“The progress has been excellent,” she said. “(Construction crews) are moving along at a nice pace. The weather has been cooperative.”

With massive cranes towering over the steel skeleton of the five-story building, project managers say they’ve completed more than 20% of the structure. The size of six football fields, the facility, at 8995 Lockport Road, is expected to be completed in time for Black Friday 2026.

“We haven’t had construction like this in our area that I can remember,” Virtuoso said of the project. “It has gone smoothly, it really has. All of the (contractors) involved in the project are very experienced in this type of construction.”

Work on the project, which started in the spring, is directed from a small one-story building at the front of the construction site. It serves as the hub of the project.

The walls are lined with blueprints and schematic drawings and on a large TV screen, video from a drone flying over head provides live pictures of the construction in progress.

“It’s really amazing to see,” Virtuoso said. “It’s a great plan that they have.”

The project will sit on 216 acres, which Virtuoso said is already being landscaped with berms and “greenery.”

The facility dubbed an Amazon Robotics Sortable fulfillment center, is expected to employ about 1,000 workers, who will use robotic technology to receive, store, and ship items. The site has enough room for 414 tractor-trailer parking stalls, 55 loading docks, and 1,755 parking spaces.

“I think we all feel the energy and are excited about the possibility of what is on the horizon,” Glendowlyn Thames, head of Amazon’s economic development for New York state, said.

Virtuoso said the construction managers have also looked to be “good neighbors” to nearby residents.

“Every time the neighbors have a concern or complaint, they have done their best to address it,” the town supervisor said.

RICK PFEIFFER | rick.pfeiffer@niagara-gazette.com