No unsigned apk in build - Android project detected

Hello,

My app was already was approved and live on Apple’s App Store but I am having problems building an Android apk for Google Play.

I can open the app in Android Studio and run it on my device. It builds successfully and works perfectly fine. But I cannot find the unsigned apk in my app folder. Here is the steps I took:

ionic cordova build --release android

My console shows a message “Android Project Detected” while running this command. When I look into my app folder, there is no build folder. It is like nothing is built. The only message after the build starts processing cordova --release is:

Android Project Detected

What steps can I took to reset everything in Android Studio and in my project folder thus I can generate sign and push the app for testing on Google Play asap?

Thanks