Amazon Opens Mass Timber Delivery Station in Indiana as Low-Carbon Logistics Test Case

Amazon has completed its first owner-occupied delivery station built primarily with mass timber, using the project to test low-carbon construction methods for large-scale logistics facilities, Area Development reported.

The 171,000-square-foot facility, known as DII5, is located in Elkhart, Indiana, and was built by Graycor Construction Company. Amazon is pursuing Zero Carbon Certification from the International Living Future Institute for the project, which incorporates more than 40 sustainability strategies.

For Graycor, which has delivered more than 30 projects for Amazon over the past two decades, the Elkhart facility marked a significant departure from standard design. “It’s not a regular old tilt-up or steel delivery station,” said Jon Denbo, project executive for Graycor. “We replaced the precast concrete walls with three-ply cross-laminated timber panels and swapped as many structural members as possible for glue-laminated beams and columns.”

The roof was constructed using a panelized wood decking system, an uncommon choice for industrial buildings in the Midwest. Because mass timber construction is more sensitive to moisture, the project team implemented a detailed mitigation plan, sequencing deliveries to protect materials during installation. “The wood went up faster than we thought it would,” Denbo said. “We smashed our goals on install time while keeping the quality and tight tolerances the project required.”

Amazon said the project is intended to inform future building standards across its logistics network. “Before mass timber, we didn’t have a bio-based structural solution that could compete with concrete and steel at scale,” said Daniel Mallory, Amazon’s vice president of global realty. “This project allows us to evaluate new materials and methods that could help standardize practices in an emerging industry.”