Amazon has signed a full building lease to open its first Queens distribution center at the former Bulova watch headquarters located at 26-15 Boody St. in Woodside.
The e-commerce giant will take over an entire one-story 83,000-square-foot building Dec. 1 from landlord Terreno Realty Company, which acquired the property from Bulova last March for just over $25 million.
The complex sits on three acres that features two large parking lots near the Grand Central Parkway and the Brooklyn Queens Expressway.
“We are excited to continue our investment in New York to speed up delivery times for customers and provide great job opportunities for the talented workforce,” Amazon spokeswoman Amanda Ip said in a statement.
The distribution center will be Amazon’s second in New York City after it opened a facility on Staten Island last year. The company expects to hire hundreds of full- and part-time workers earning between $18 and $25 dollars per hour.
Meanwhile, Amazon sent a team of executives to Long Island City as it continues to narrow a list of candidates for what is being called one of the biggest economic development deals of the century, a second corporate headquarters known as HQ2 which is expected to create 50,000 high-paying jobs and more than $5 billion in investment.
More than 200 metropolitan areas around North America submitted bids for the Amazon campus and Long Island City was one of 20 finalists announced last January.
“New York’s emerging tech hub — Long Island City, Queens — is ‘primed’ for Amazon,” Queens Borough President Melinda Katz said when launching the campaign. “With it’s projected growth, wealth of local talent and inherent assets to foster innovation, Queens offers a dynamic mixed-use community where workers can live, ideas can synergize, and businesses can flourish.”
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos indicated that a decision of where to locate HQ2 will be made by the end of the year.
Editor’s note: An earlier version incorrectly identified the site in question as the Bulova Corporate Center. We regret any confusion which may have resulted.
