The East Fishkill Town Board has approved a 631,000-square-foot Amazon warehouse to be built at the former IBM West Campus at 1940 Route 52 in Dutchess County.
The property consists of approximately 124 acres with 500,000 square feet of existing buildings, according to McGrath Realty broker Robert Buyakowski, who led the transaction between USEF Tioranda LLC and former owners RWHPA.
USEF Tioranda will be building the warehouse/distribution center at a cost of $135 million starting this month, Buyakowski said. After development, it will be leased to Amazon and create at least 500 full-time and up to 700 part-time jobs in the first phase. Temporary construction jobs will add another 300 to 400 jobs.
The project is also expected to bring significant tax revenue to the town, Dutchess County, the Wappingers Central School District and the local library district.
Demolition of the existing structures will begin “as soon as possible,” according to East Fishkill Town Supervisor Nicholas D”™Alessandro.
“In summary, this project will bring significant benefits not only to our local community but the entire region as well,” he said. “I again commend my colleagues on the Town Board for making the necessary changes to facilitate the development of the projects in East Fishkill.”
Last month, the town of Montgomery in Orange County approved the construction of a 1,010,880-square-foot Amazon fulfillment center.
A 15-year PILOT agreement between Amazon and the Dutchess County Industrial Development Agency will allow for a property tax exemption of approximately $14.3 million, dependent upon Amazon living up to its job-creation promises.
D”™Alessandro said that East Fishkill expects to build a town road that will act as a bypass road to I-84 from Route 52, along with a roundabout in the Route 52 business corridor and an improved “traffic area,” all to help assist with traffic congestion.
“I am extremely excited to see this site finally flourish with activity after decades of decline,” Buyakowski said. “The exceptional collaboration from both the private and public sector to untangle the development complexities made way for this transformation into an Amazon distribution center.”
The facility, which is expected to launch 2022, will be Amazon”™s first operations site in Dutchess County and its first cross-dock building in New York. The retail behemoth”™s operations network in New York currently includes two fulfillment centers, two sortation centers and 15 delivery stations.
“The Empire State and its incredible workforce have been vital to our ability to provide great selection, competitive prices and the Prime services we know our customers love,” said Amazon”™s Vice President of Global Customer Fulfillment Alicia Boler Davis. “We are excited to create hundreds of new job opportunities ”“ with great pay and great benefits ”“ and remain committed to driving a positive economic impact in the community.”
“This investment and the expected creation of 500 jobs is a result of a proactive and targeted economic development strategy to redevelop commercial properties in Dutchess County for their highest and best use,” said Dutchess County Executive Marcus J. Molinaro. “What has been a largely vacant and blighted site will be transformed into a state-of-the-art logistics facility, create hundreds of jobs, and significantly improve the traffic flow and appearance of the Route 52 corridor.”
Amazon said that it has created more than 44,000 full- and part-time jobs across New York, and since 2010 has invested more than $7 billion across the state, including infrastructure and compensation to its employees, which has contributed $5.7+ billion to the state”™s economy and helped create more than 17,000 indirect jobs on top of Amazon”™s direct hires.
