Amazon To Open Delivery Station In Long Island City

LONG ISLAND CITY, QUEENS — Amazon is poised to open a new delivery station this year in Long Island City, the neighborhood where the online retail giant planned to build a sprawling "HQ2" campus before reneging on the deal amid vocal opposition.

The Amazon Logistics lease at 38-50 21st., which has not been previously reported, was signed last year, a company spokesperson confirmed to Patch.

The last-mile delivery station is where independent contractors known as "delivery service partners" load Amazon packages into vehicles, then drive them to customers.

At least eight other delivery stations in New York City have opened this year or will open by 2022, according to Amazon.

Job postings to work as a delivery driver at the upcoming Long Island City facility advertise a pay rate of $17 to $18.25 an hour.

“We are excited to continue to invest in the state of New York with a new delivery station in Long Island City that will provide efficient delivery for customers, and create job opportunities for the talented workforce," Amazon spokesperson Emily Hawkins said in an emailed statement to Patch.

Amazon's foray into Long Island City will come more than two years after the company canceled plans to build a sprawling campus in the waterfront area known as Anable Basin, in what was said to be the largest economic development deal in city and state history.

Amazon pledged to provide 25,000 jobs on the new campus, a $3.6 billion development that would have eventually spanned at least 4 million square feet, but critics lambasted the nearly $3 billion in tax breaks and other incentives the project was set to receive.

After the company canceled the project in February 2019, four developers with land in the area unveiled plans for a half-residential, half-commercial development to take Amazon's place. The status of that project is unclear, after developers' negotiations with the city broke down and Mayor Bill de Blasio's administration pulled out of the planning process.

Meanwhile, Amazon has continued expanding its New York City footprint with a network of delivery stations and warehouses.

In addition to the Long Island City facility, three new delivery stations in The Bronx, three in Brooklyn and one in Middle Village are in the works, according to a company spokesperson.

The upcoming Amazon delivery station in Long Island City is about a mile away from where the HQ2 campus would have stood. The 21st Street was previously home to Green Apple Supermarket, which has sat empty for years.

An Amazon spokesperson declined to share the terms of the lease. The development group that owns the property did not respond to an email requesting comment.