It's been a busy year so far for San Francisco based-Prologis, Inc. Last week, the developer/owner/operator of industrial real estate announced that it signed a lease agreement with Amazon.com to build a more than one million sq-ft distribution center in the city of Tracy, CA. This comes on the heels of the company's other news that it has begun work on a new 795,000 sq-ft project in Japan, and that it was included in the 2013 "Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations in the World" list at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

The Tracy development, Amazon.com's third California fulfillment center, will be a modern, secure and sustainably-built facility near the Bay area and the Capitol Region, which project officials say will create hundreds of full-time jobs with benefits at the site. The build-to-suit project will be located on 90 acres of land at Prologis Park Tracy Phase II. Upon completion of this project, Prologis Park Tracy Phase II will be at full occupancy, with three distribution facilities totaling about 2.2 million sq-

With this new development, Prologis’ relationship with Amazon will span three continents. ft.

“A main reason Amazon is interested in our land at Prologis Park Tracy is due to its strategic location,” said Mike Curless, Prologis’ chief investment officer, in a recent press release. “As our customers’ needs for real-time delivery increase, our properties are best situated to support their distribution strategy. This deal is another example of our portfolio being located in the right markets and attracting world-class global customers.”

Scott Lamson, president, Northwest Region, Prologis Americas, said in a news release that the "growth of e-commerce is driving strong demand for large facilities, not only from our online retail customers, but with traditional brick and mortars as well."

The company’s development in Japan, called Prologis Park Kitamoto, was announced on January 16. It is strategically located in Saitama Ken-O Expressway, a submarket of Tokyo. The facility, located within 29 miles of Tokyo's central business district, will also give customers access to the Sendai and Nagoya markets via the Ken-O Expressway. The four-story facility is expected to be completed in early 2014. 

"The Saitama Ken-O submarket has evolved into a prime distribution hub, in part, due to Prologis' successful market entry at Prologis Park Kawajima," said Mike Yamada, president of Prologis Japan, in a news release. "Demand for our industry-leading facilities has been strong and we look forward to adding this state-of-the art property to our portfolio."

Prologis is one of the leading providers of industrial real estate in Asia, with approximately 21 million sq-ft of logistics and distribution space in Japan. Major Prologis customers, include: Hitachi Transport System, Panasonic Logistics, Sagawa Express Group, Nippon Express, Kirin Logistics, Tomy Company, Yamato Logistics, Costco, Daikin Industries, and Caterpillar Logistics Services, Inc.

But Prologis is not just developing projects; the company is also keeping it green, so green that it was named to this year's "Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations in the World." The Global 100 consists of the 100 top-performing companies worldwide based on a range of sector-specific 'sustainability' metrics.  

Prologis says it has a comprehensive approach to sustainability encompassing three dimensions: environmental stewardship, social responsibility and governance. As a leading global provider of certified sustainable logistics space, Prologis owns more than 39 million sq-ft of facilities meeting green building standards. The company has completed energy efficiency improvements in over 50 percent of its global property portfolio, and has installed 83 megawatts of solar panels as part of its commitment to renewable energy.

In addition, Prologis supports charitable activities in communities where it operates through financial contributions from the Prologis Foundation, supporting employee volunteer efforts, and donating warehouse space to nonprofit organizations. In 2012, Prologis released its annual Corporate Responsibility Report, its first since the merger of ProLogis and AMB Property Corporation.