Amazon breaks ground on 3 million-square-foot Goochland fulfillment center

Gov. Glenn Youngkin speaks at a ceremonial groundbreaking for Amazon’s Goochland facility. (Photos by Jackie DiBartolomeo)

Construction of a massive new Amazon facility in Goochland got off to a ceremonial start this week.

Officials from the e-commerce giant crowded into the county’s agricultural center Wednesday morning to officially announce plans for (and ceremonially break ground on) the previously reported 3.1 million-square-foot robotics fulfillment center on a 105-acre site at 2022 Ashland Road in the Rockville area. 

The center is set to open its doors in 2027 and will be the largest Amazon facility in the greater Richmond area. It’s been dubbed “RIC 6,” for being Amazon’s sixth fulfillment or distribution center near Richmond International Airport. 

Amazon’s robotic fulfillment centers store small consumer products like books and household items and use robots to transfer purchased items to facility employees, who begin the shipping process to the customer. 

Amazon officials were joined by Gov. Glenn Youngkin and Goochland County officials at the ceremony Wednesday. They donned hard hats and handled shovels to “break ground” on the facility.

Youngkin touted the facility’s stats at the event, noting that around 100 million items will be stored, processed and delivered out of the new facility. He added that the center would create 1,000 jobs. 

Youngkin (right), Goochland County Board of Supervisors Chair Tom Winfree (middle) and Amazon officials “break ground” on the facility.

“Imagine 1,000 Virginians who get to experience those most powerful words of ‘You are hired,’” Youngkin said. “This decision to be here in Goochland County, I think, is another great step of not just Amazon’s commitment to Virginia, but Virginia’s commitment to Amazon.” 

“The symmetry that we’re going to have between Goochland County and Amazon is going to be fabulous, with our young people having another opportunity for a local place to go to work, other jobs for their parents. … It will be fabulous,” Del. David Owen, R-Goochland, added. 

Youngkin said at the ceremony that Amazon has created more than 42,000 full-time and part-time jobs and invested over $135 billion in Virginia since 2010. 

California-based Panattoni Development Co. is developing the Rockville facility, described in applications as a five-level building. The project is located between the Martin Marietta and Luck Stone quarries, within an area of Goochland identified as the county’s industrial corridor. 

Surrounding properties include the Rockville Commerce Center, home to Midnight Brewery and other businesses.

The project will add traffic signals at its entrance off Ashland Road and at the nearby Interstate 64 interchange, which is planned to be upgraded later to a diverging diamond design, bolstered by both state and regional funding. Driveways for nearby Luck Stone facilities are also to be relocated as part of the project.

“(Amazon’s) decision to locate in the Rockville Opportunity Corridor has already proven to be beneficial to the region by helping to secure funding for critical transportation improvements,” Goochland Board of Supervisors Chair Tom Winfree said. 

Amazon’s new Goochland facility will span 3.1 million square feet.

Panattoni originally secured zoning approval for the project, known during the planning process as Project Rocky, from Goochland supervisors in 2022. Around a year later, county officials said the developer was no longer pursuing the project. Last June, the land was put up for sale and co-marketed by the county with an asking price of $18.5 million.

Amazon then purchased the 105-acre site for $16.5 million in a multiparcel sale recorded with the county in December.

The Goochland fulfillment center is Amazon’s fourth robotic facility in Virginia. Its other robotic locations are in northern Henrico and Suffolk, and a Virginia Beach facility that’s slated to open later this year. 

The Henrico robotic fulfillment center opened near Richmond Raceway in March last year. The 2.7 million-square-foot, five-story, 100-foot-tall structure is situated along Richmond Henrico Turnpike, where it fills most of a 120-acre site the raceway sold in 2021.

The Suffolk robotic facility opened in 2021 and remains the largest Amazon facility in the state, spanning 3.8 million square feet. Amazon’s first local facilities opened in 2012 in Dinwiddie and Chesterfield counties.

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