Amazon Acquires Former OC Register Plant For Distribution Center

SANTA ANA, CA — Online retail giant Amazon has acquired the old Orange County Register printing plant in Santa Ana for $63.2 million to make way for a new distribution center.

Amazon has plans to raze the 120,000-square-foot warehouse, which was home to the newspaper's printing plant, so the company can build a 112,485- square-foot delivery station building with a surface-level parking lot, said Paul Eakins, a spokesman for the city.

City officials have signed off on the concept in a process that did not require City Council approval, Eakins said.

Amazon is now in the process of submitting more plans to be checked and obtaining permits before construction can begin. The plans for demolition, landscaping and other work such as grading at the site have not yet been submitted.

The building and parking will be constructed on 16 acres and the company plans to have about 135 drivers and other employees mostly working full- time on the site. A job fair is in the works to focus on hiring residents from Santa Ana, Eakins said. (See some job openings here.)

Local developer Michael Harrah acquired the property for about $61 million in 2016, including a five-story office building, which he still owns, that was home to the newspaper from 1986 until 2017, the Register reported.

The newspaper moved its offices to Anaheim three years ago.

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--City News Service