Amazon’s next fulfillment center in the region is slated for Staten Island. — Courtesy: Amazon
By Joshua Burd
Matrix Development Group’s move into Staten Island has led to a deal with Amazon, which announced it will open a new 855,000-square-fulfillment center at the developer’s new industrial complex in the New York City borough.
The e-commerce giant and New York State officials said Wednesday that the new $100 million facility will open in Matrix’s Global Logistics Park on the West Shore of Staten Island. It will be Amazon’s first fulfillment center in New York, with the lease coming about a year after the Cranbury-based developer announced it was targeting Staten Island for a new major development.
RELATED: Matrix looks to Staten Island as its next frontier
The facility is one of four large warehouses within Matrix’s development at the site of a former oil storage site. According to Crain’s New York Business, the company recently completed a nearby 975,000-square-foot warehouse on spec that it is also close to leasing.
“We are now negotiating with a single user for our other warehouse property,” Joseph Taylor, CEO and president of Matrix, told Crain’s. “We were optimistic that we would receive strong interest for this project because there are compelling reasons to be on this site.”
Known as Matrix Global Logistics Park, the property is about a mile from the Goethals Bridge and 3.5 miles from the Bayonne Bridge. Matrix touted the site as sharing the benefits of a North Jersey location, but with more efficient access to Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens and Long Island.
Matrix plans to build two other warehouses on the complex once tenants have been secured, Crain’s reported. The deal follows the development of several massive Amazon fulfillment in New Jersey in recent years, including the first that was built on former Matrix property in Robbinsville in 2013.
New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo announced the plans on Wednesday, noting that the new Amazon facility would create 2,250 full-time jobs. In order to encourage Amazon’s expansion into New York State, the Empire State Development agency offered the company up to $18 million in performance-based tax credits through the Excelsior Jobs Program.
“Amazon’s decision to establish the first state-of-the-art fulfillment center in New York affirms our position at the forefront of the growing global innovation economy, and this investment will create thousands of jobs and opportunities for the Staten Island community,” Cuomo said. “New York continues to demonstrate that we have the workforce, the technology, and the pro-business climate to help companies grow and succeed.”
