In April of last year, when the Business Journal reported on the planned construction of a $99 million, 153,062-square-foot warehouse at 211 Saw Mill River Road in Hawthorne, the focus was on the construction project, not on possible future tenant. Now that construction is underway at the site, the focus has shifted and dramatically to the planned tenant: internet and retailing giant Amazon.
Mount Pleasant Town Supervisor and chairman of the town”™s Industrial Development Agency Carl Fulgenzi on Feb. 1 told the Business Journal it is his understanding from the developer that Amazon will be the tenant.
An Amazon spokesperson, Verena Gross, told the Business Journal, “While this prospective project is still in the early stages, we are excited about the potential to bring new jobs with great pay and benefits to the area and to continue our investment in the state of New York.”
“It”™s a major investment in the town of Mount Pleasant, a lot of jobs. The school tax is a big number,” Fulgenzi said. “They”™re going to be making some improvements on Route 9A. There will be a traffic light there with a turning lane which will help that area.”
Fulgenzi described the warehouse and Amazon”™s anticipated operations at the site to be a higher use than was the Green Valley Nursery, which operated at the location for many years. He noted that the nursery had trucks going in and out of the property and that when the warehouse project was going through the approval process a traffic study was done to determine the level of traffic that could be anticipated from a warehousing and distribution operation at the site.
The Business Journal reported that the developer was USRE Hawthorne LLC of Delaware. The developer said the project was expected to create 100 full-time and part-time jobs. The site covers 10.475 acres and will provide room for 181 passenger car parking spaces, 597 van parking spaces, 12 truck loading spaces and 62 van loading spaces at grade.
The building”™s interior would have 136,214 square feet of warehouse space and 16,848 square feet of office space.
The developer did not request a PILOT agreement (payment in lieu of taxes) to save on property taxes, nor were mortgage recording tax exemptions sought. It was estimated that property taxes would amount to $1.5 million annually.
Fulgenzi said he did not know what Amazon”™s operating hours would be at the facility but believed that larger delivery trucks would come in at night and smaller vans would go in and out for deliveries during the daytime hours.
“Route 9A has been in need of a focus for a long time and this brings more attention to it by adding a traffic light and a turning lane that will help that particular spot,” Fulgenzi said. “Right now people need to have patience while they”™re doing the construction.”
He said having Amazon in town will create local jobs.
“It”™s not just people coming from outside the area to get a job. It”™s offering a lot of jobs to our residents also,” Fulgenzi said.
