The teardown of Euclid Square Mall in Euclid, Ohio, at the center of a roughly 70-acre site, began a new chapter for this failed mall. The dead mall will be replaced by an Amazon fulfillment center, scheduled to open in summer 2019. Amazon paid more than $7 million for Euclid Square Mall and the nearby buildings in late September 2017, according to public records. The company formally announced the fulfillment center project the morning after the land deals closed. The mall was demolished shortly thereafter.
Why did Amazon choose this (and similar) sites?
o Failed malls offer lots of space, enough to fit Amazon’s 500,000-1,000,000 warehouse size and related employee parking (up to 3,000 workers at each facility).
o Large sites required by Amazon are not readily available.
o Mall sites are typically near large population centers, with proximity to highways that are needed for Amazon’s quick delivery promise.
o Public transportation for employees is typically available.
o Infrastructure such as water, sewer, electric and gas are already in place.
This is the second fulfillment center in the Cleveland market that was built on a former mall site. Randall Park Mall was demolished and a 2.3-million-square-foot multi-level logistics hub opened in September 2018. The facility in North Randall, Ohio, employs over 2,000 people.