Amazon Spent Big on Industrial Deals in 2024

After pulling back its industrial real estate dealings from the height of the pandemic, Amazon made a prime rally last year.

The e-commerce giant spent more than $2 billion in industrial acquisitions last year, Bisnow reported. Comprising nearly 40 transactions, the deal volume more than doubled the $920 million Jeff Bezos’ company spent in the sector the prior year.

Amazon acquired more than 3,000 acres in 14 states, according to CoStar data. While the almost-30-year-old company spent plenty to expand its logistics network, it also poured money into the data center space as it aimed to meet demand for Amazon Web Services, itself exploding thanks to the artificial intelligence boom.

Amazon’s bullish deals stand in stark contrast to the pivot it made near the end of 2022, when the behemoth had to correct for an overindulgence of industrial assets. By February of the following year, the company had closed or postponed the opening of nearly 100 facilities.

Last year, however, Amazon came roaring back to the deal table. Its biggest of the year was a $394 million acquisition of a 2.8-million-square-foot property in Daytona Beach, Florida. The five-story fulfillment center is expected to open in the coming months.

Seven of Amazon’s industrial and land purchases last year carried a price tag of at least $100 million. Almost half of those were in Virginia, which is becoming the data center capital of the world.

About 40 percent of Amazon’s industrial pickups last year were in Virginia, largely centered on Manassas, a data center hub. The company spent $640 million on acquisitions in central Virginia alone last year, topped by a $218 million purchase for 91 acres that will be transformed into a data center.

It’s no wonder data centers are becoming a big focus of Amazon’s real estate strategy, which the company doesn’t comment on; its data center business accounted for 16 percent of third-quarter revenue in 2024.

While Amazon appears to be back on a ceaseless hunt for industrial space, it could add more office space if company leadership intends to enforce a return-to-office mandate, a so-far rocky transition.

— Holden Walter-Warner