Adding to its growing list of facilities across Houston, Amazon has announced plans for a 1M SF fulfillment center in Missouri City in southwest Houston.

When the new facility opens in 2021, Amazon employees will work to pick, pack and ship bulky or larger-sized customer items such as patio furniture, outdoor equipment or rugs. The center is expected to create more than 500 new jobs.

The fulfillment center is being developed on behalf of Amazon by Lovett Industrial, an industrial development company led by Frank Liu and Charlie Meyer. The firm is an offshoot of Lovett Commercial, which is responsible for several major projects in Houston, including Sawyer Yards and POST Houston.

“Expanding the economic base is a citizen and City Council priority, and this new Amazon center helps to achieve that goal. It’s just another step in moving Missouri City’s economy forward into the future,” Missouri City Mayor Yolanda Ford said in a statement.

The massive fulfillment center is the latest announcement in a string of local deals by the e-commerce giant. In June, Amazon and Trammell Crow announced that construction had begun on an 850K SF fulfillment center in Richmond, also in southwest Houston. That facility will extensively use robotics alongside employees to pick, pack and ship small items and is also set for launch in 2021.

The firm also opened its Amazon Clay 99 Sort Center in Katy in October, an 805.6K SF build-to-suit facility. Prior to 2020, Amazon opened a 1M SF fulfillment center in the Katy area in 2018, as well as an 855K SF fulfillment center in north Houston’s Pinto Business Park the same year.

Amazon accounted for half of all Houston’s industrial net absorption in Q3 2020, reflecting the company’s move into 443.5K SF in the northwest corridor and 200.4K SF in the south corridor, according to Colliers International. The retailer is among the companies leading the charge in building increasingly larger industrial properties in the Houston region.