Amazon to have at least three 'last-mile' warehouses on LI
Amazon has signed a lease for 100 Precision Dr. in Shirley. The 110,658-square-foot building will serve as a "logistics delivery station" and is expected to open next month. Credit: James Carbone
With Amazon renting a Shirley warehouse, the online retailer will have at least three distribution centers on Long Island to make “last mile” deliveries to customers.
Amazon has signed a lease for 100 Precision Dr. in Shirley. The 110,658-square-foot building will serve as a “logistics delivery station” and is expected to open next month, according to company spokeswoman Emily Hawkins.
“Delivery stations power the last mile of our order fulfillment process,” she said on Wednesday. “Packages are transported to delivery stations from Amazon fulfillment centers, are sorted, and then loaded into vehicles for delivery to customers.”
The retailer has more than 150 last-mile warehouses across the United States, including one on Grumman Road West in Bethpage. The company received approval last week from North Hempstead Town to convert a former Waldbaum’s supermarket in Carle Place to a last-mile warehouse.
Hawkins said the Carle Place facility at 2 Westbury Ave. will open later this year.
Amazon has yet to comment publicly on its discussions with Nassau County and Oyster Bay Town officials about building a 200,000-square-foot warehouse on the old Cerro Wire property in Syosset. The project would end decades of debate over the site and create 550 permanent jobs, according to Oyster Bay Supervisor Joseph Saladino.
In Shirley, about 100 people will be hired as Amazon warehouse workers, with deliveries being made by independent contractors. More information is available at amazon.jobs.
Brookhaven Supervisor Edward P. Romaine said the town has been speaking with Amazon representatives for 15 months or so about locating a warehouse in the East Yaphank/Shirley area. He said the discussions were about constructing a facility to serve the retailer’s customers in Brookhaven Town and on the East End.
“This is a big deal,” Romaine said on Wednesday, referring to Amazon’s lease agreement in Shirley. “There’s going to be jobs, economic opportunity.”
He said the warehouse location, near William Floyd Parkway and the South Service Road of the Long Island Expressway, is ideal for delivery trucks, coming and going. He said Amazon employees without cars will be able to use the Yaphank Long Island Rail Road station, which is being moved east.
“This is a shot in the arm” for the Island’s recovery from the coronavirus-induced recession, Romaine said. “There are going to be a lot of jobs.”
Amazon isn’t receiving tax breaks for the last-mile warehouses in Shirley and Carle Place, according to the Brookhaven and Nassau County industrial development agencies. The company is seeking aid for the proposed Syosset warehouse, said Nassau IDA chairman Richard Kessel.
He agreed with Romaine that last-mile warehouses are potentially “a new industry” for Long Island. The Nassau IDA recently approved tax breaks for Home Depot's last-mile facility in Hicksville, which will handle appliance deliveries.
James T. Madore writes about Long Island business news including the economy, development, and the relationship between government and business. He previously served as Albany bureau chief.
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