Online retail giant Amazon Inc. has opened its first Iowa same-day delivery facility, located in a recently built warehouse in Ankeny, the Seattle-based company announced.

“This facility will enable Prime members free same-day delivery on more than a million items and faster delivery for all of our customers,” site leader Alina Carstea said in a news release.

The facility is located at 6910 S.E. Four Mile Drive in Ankeny. The 157,500-square-foot warehouse, which includes 15 bays and 26 dock doors, was built by Hubbell Realty Co. Construction was completed in mid-2023.

In August, a limited partnership managed by Sacramento, Calif.-based Buzz Oates acquired the property for $18.5 million. Amazon is a client of Buzz Oates, a commercial real estate investment firm.

Amazon’s same-day delivery sites are smaller than the company’s fulfillment centers and are located in large population centers. The same-day facilities are designed to pick, pack and prepare items for quick delivery. Amazon’s top-selling merchandise is stocked in the facilities.

In an annual letter to shareholders last April, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy wrote that items handled at the same-day facilities can be ready to be shipped in as little as 11 minutes. He also wrote that Amazon planned on doubling its number of same-day facilities, from 58 to over 110.

“These facilities also constitute our lowest cost to serve in the network,” Jassy wrote.

The Ankeny facility uses robots to help sort and fill items for delivery, according to a news release. The facility serves customers in the Greater Des Moines area.

The facility has about 40 employees and is hiring others. When fully staffed, the facility will employ about 100 people, according to a news release. Pay begins at $20.50 an hour.

Amazon has six facilities in the Des Moines area and five others in Iowa, where it has invested $4.5 billion, including infrastructure and employee compensation, according to a news release.