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E-commerce giant Amazon is still bringing its massive national distribution center to the western half of New York after all – but instead of Grand Island, it's going to the Rochester suburbs.
Seattle-based Amazon and its development partners at Trammell Crow are proposing to put up a five-story warehouse and distribution center in a technology park in the Town of Gates, with 2.6 million square feet of space.
The plan is comparable – although somewhat smaller – to the proposed $300 million development that Amazon and Trammell were seeking to develop on Grand Island. That venture, called Project Olive, would have brought 1,000 jobs to the region at a 3.8-million-square-foot facility on 145 acres of land at 2780 Long Road. And it's similar to one the company is working on in Liverpool, N.Y., outside Syracuse.
But the Grand Island project drew such fervent opposition from residents and some town officials – even after Amazon tried to sweeten the deal with $10 million for public amenities for the town – that the company scrapped the plan last summer.
However, it's not clear if the Gates proposal is a replacement for Grand Island, or would have been in the works anyway for the fast-growing Internet giant, which is also erecting a large project in the Albany area.
The $412 million project for Amazon.com Services would occupy 100 acres at 2600 Manitou Road, on land owned by Williamsville-based Acquest Development, which also owned the abandoned Grand Island site. The Rochester project would employ more than 1,000 workers at full operation, according to an application filed with the County of Monroe Industrial Development Agency, or COMIDA.
Amazon – which would be the tenant – is working with national real estate developer Trammell Crow and San Antonio-based USAA Real Estate, which will co-own the facility under USRE Manitou, which filed the COMIDA application.
The Gates site – a former Eastman Kodak facility – is zoned for general industry. According to the COMIDA application, the proposed building would include a one-story office section, with storefront windows and doors, and then the warehouse area. The facade would feature precast concrete panels for the ground floor and insulated smooth and corrugated metal panels for the upper floors.
The project was also reviewed by the Gates Planning Board.
Amazon and the developers are seeking $142.9 million in tax incentives – $25.52 million in sales tax breaks, $1.99 million on mortgage recording relief and $115.42 million in property tax breaks – for the construction and equipping of the facility.
If approved, plans call for acquiring the property from Acquest and starting construction by March 1, with completion by Sept. 1, 2022.
Amazon is also developing smaller distribution or last-mile warehouses in the Rochester suburbs of Ogden and Greece, and it has similar facilities in Tonawanda and Lancaster. It's also proposing another in Hamburg.
I haven't heard a word about this, or any other location proposal. Is the project dead? Did Rochester get it instead? There is a large Amazon facility going up on the west side of Rochester, with quick access to the thruway.
$300M Amazon warehouse, dropped on Grand Island, finds new Western New York home
Quote:
Two years after Amazon's plans for a regional distribution center and warehouse were scrapped, the online retail behemoth has chosen a new Western New York site.
Sources have confirmed that Amazon – under the guise of Project Fi Fi and JB2 Partners LLC – is working on a plan to develop a three-million-square-foot center on a 216-acre vacant parcel at 8955 Lockport Road in the town of Niagara, just beyond Niagara Falls International Airport and the Niagara Falls Air Reserve Station. Among the site's assets: proximity to the airport and access to the I-190.
With a development price tag of just north of $300 million and the prospect of creating at least 1,000 jobs, the warehouse would be the largest private-sector development in recent Niagara County history.
Representatives of JB2 Partners met with the Town of Niagara Planning Board on March 1 to begin the review process.
Looks like Grand Island will still get the trucks down the 190 but not the tax money from new development. AND the trucks will now be regularly crossing both bridges on the island instead of one.
Nimby at its finest. They stopped the Peace Bridge replacement so why not this too. Let the residents of Grand Island buy the parcel at fair market value and pay for it with a one time assessment. This is a fair and just solution.
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