Amazon purchased approximately 200 acres in Hesperia at the end of October, paying $161.9M for property that comes with approval to build one of its characteristically enormous warehouses, Bisnow has learned.

Public records indicate Amazon was the buyer of the site. The seller was Covington Group, which shepherded the property through the entitlement process with the city. Covington declined to comment. The site is entitled for approximately 2.5M SF in one building, according to City of Hesperia Public Relations Analyst Kelly Brady.

Amazon is already working on the site. Grading permits have been pulled and grading is underway at the property, Brady confirmed.

The city of Hesperia sits north of the junction of the 15 and 215 freeways near Victorville, which is home to two existing Amazon facilities.

The property was originally referenced in city planning documents as the Hesperia Commerce Center II. The first Hesperia Commerce Center was developed by Covington and counts furniture distributor Modway and fitness equipment company Peloton among the tenants of its more than 3.5M SF.

The high desert markets have been the subject of growing attention and investment from industrial occupiers and developers as the Inland Empire market works to absorb new supply and grapple with community pushback against new warehouse projects.

The high desert generally has a reputation for being business-friendly and also has much more available land than the built-up Inland Empire. It hasn't left the Inland Empire in the dust, though. Earlier this year, Amazon leased 2M SF  in the West Inland Empire's Jurupa Valley and Ontario.

The purchase and construction of the new warehouse mirrors Amazon's building spree in 2021, during which the company put up millions of square feet of new warehouses as e-commerce demand surged. The retail giant temporarily slowed its pace but has picked back up again, opening warehouses this year in places like Oregon and South Carolina.

It has also submitted plans for new projects in Nevada, Texas and Connecticut, among others.