Amazon’s reach in Orange County is growing as the online retail giant prepares a large warehouse and distribution center in Irvine.

The company is working with the city to reconfigure about half of a large building at 17871 Von Karman Ave., according to city spokesman Craig Reem.

“Tenant improvements are interior changes to the building only, to accommodate Amazon’s specific needs,” Reem said in an email.

The building is between Alton Parkway and Main Street, just off the 405. Amazon has leased 187,817 square feet from Von Karman Income Partners Holding Co., according to realty group CoStar.

Amazon did not return requests for comment on the warehouse. The city could not provide details on when the center would open.

The Irvine distribution facility will be smaller than fulfillment centers in the Inland Empire, which typically span more than 1 million square feet.

With its proximity to Los Angeles, Orange County was among the first areas to get access to Amazon’s enhanced delivery services, such as Prime Now, a one-hour and tw-hour delivery program, and AmazonFresh, which focuses on groceries.

The Seattle-based retailer is doubling down on grocery deliveries. The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday that Amazon is planning to build convenience stores and develop curbside pickup locations for its food shoppers.

Perishable goods will be sold, and customers can order items with longer shelf lives for same-day delivery, according to the newspaper.

Drive-in locations also will be built for AmazonFresh customers, WSJ reported.

AmazonFresh last week announced it had dropped its monthly subscription fee nearly $10 to $14.99, or $179.88 a year, for an overall annual savings of around $119.

The Fresh service is available as an add-on to Amazon Prime subscribers, who pay an annual $99 membership fee. Fresh delivers groceries to select metro markets, including many communities in Orange and Los Angeles counties.

Analysts on Wall Street have kept a close eye on Amazon’s Prime memberships, and some estimates indicate more than 35 percent of households in the U.S. use the service.

Analysts estimate the number of Prime subscribers grew 28 percent between October 2015 and May of this year. “In all, we estimate that there are 60 million global Prime subs,” they add, with 41 million of them in the U.S.

Bloomberg contributed to this report.

Contact the writer: hmadans@ocregister.com or Twitter: @HannahMadans