After Amazon's arrival in Aurora, Denver will likely be added to the metros receiving seven-day package deliveries.
The facility being built in a business park about five miles south of Denver International Airport will be used to sort Amazon packages for the U.S. Postal Service. The sortation center is expected to open before fall, said Amazon spokeswoman Ashley Robinson.
Postal workers started Sunday deliveries of Amazon books, groceries and everything else including the kitchen sink in 2013.
Amazon's Aurora site enables Denver to be added to the more than 25 metros getting packages seven days a week. The Mile High city will have to wait on two-hour deliveries offered through Amazon Prime Now.
"I don’t know what the projections are for expanding Prime Now to Denver," Robinson said. "We're always discussing ways to expand our network."
Prime Now is up and running in more than 25 markets, including Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas and Miami.
Faster delivery is a part of Amazon's effort to attract customers to its Prime membership. The Seattle-based company charges its U.S. members $99 a year or $10.99 a month for the service.
There are tens of millions of Prime members worldwide, according to Amazon's 2015 annual report.
Sortation centers like the one being built in Aurora allow Amazon to expand the Prime membership. Since 2014, the e-commerce company added 23 sortation centers in metro areas throughout the U.S., Robinson said.
Amazon plans to start out with less than 500 employees in Aurora, though a specific number hasn't been released.
Once the Aurora facility opens, online shoppers in the Denver metro who shop on Amazon.com, will have their orders boxed in one of the company's more than 120 fulfillment centers. The packages will then be sent to the 452,000-square-foot warehouse in Aurora where they will be sorted by zip code ahead of delivery by the U.S. Postal Service.
"We’ve got a great customer base in Colorado, and we are excited about the opportunity to increase the delivery speeds for Prime members and other customers," Robinson said.
Business & data reporter Adrian D. Garcia can be reached via email at [email protected] or twitter.com/adriandgarcia.
