Signs featuring the Amazon name and logo are up at several spots around the massive new distribution facility it plans to utilize off the northeast corner of Interstate 15 and 400 North. Marriott-Slaterville Mayor Scott Van Leeuwen recently met with a pair of reps from the company, who assured him they’re still planning to come.

The question, though, remains — when will it start operating? It’s been a topic of speculation since the 185,000-square-foot warehouse-like building — gleaming, but with a perpetually empty parking lot — was completed in early 2022.

In a short statement to the Standard-Examiner, the firm confirmed its commitment to Marriott-Slaterville, but didn’t say much more. “This facility remains in our plan to launch as a delivery station down the road – we do not have a launch date to share at this time,” the statement reads in part.

Van Leeuwen said one of the reps he met with affirmed Amazon’s intent to come here, without offering specifics. “He said hopefully in 2025 or sometime thereafter. It could be 2026,” Van Leeuwen said. “It just depends on what’s going on.”

Tim Vandenack, Standard-Examiner

Notably, Amazon has no plans to sublease the facility, previously planned to have opened soon after its completion in early 2022, according to the original timeline, creating as many as 500 jobs. Van Leeuwen said “for lease” signs popped up around one of the entries to the property, alarming him and prompting efforts to find more information and meet with the Amazon people last month.

“I don’t want to have brand new bomb factory go in there,” Van Leeuwen said.

The Amazon representatives told him they won’t be leasing the building — to a bomb-making company or anything else — and the company indicated as much in their message to the Standard-Examiner. “Our facility in Marriott-Slaterville is currently not available for sublease,” Amazon said.

Michael Batt, of Salt Lake City-based developer Gardner Batt, which built the structure and actually owns it, said the latest word he hears indicates it will open before 2025. Like many, though, he isn’t privy to all the details. Gardner Batt built the facility with the intent of leasing it to Amazon.

“I don’t have any specific information at this time,” Batt said in an email to the Standard-Examiner.

Tim Vandenack, Standard-Examiner

The Marriott-Slaterville facility isn’t the only Amazon building sitting empty, or largely empty. Retail Dive reported earlier this year that the structure here is one of many around the county with a delayed opening date as the online retail giant looks to trim costs. The firm has laid off thousands of employees this year, according to CNBC and other media outlets.

Though appearing empty, the Marriott-Slaterville structure is getting some use, according to Amazon. “We are using this facility as an equipment hub supporting our operations across the country,” the firm said in its statement. Reps didn’t elaborate when asked, but said a “limited” number of employees are working out of the building.

As conveyed to Van Leeuwen, Amazon is able to manage deliveries in the area with distribution centers it has elsewhere.