Amazon seeks distribution hub in Queens: report

Amazon may have bowed out from bringing its second East Coast headquarters to Long Island City, but the e-commerce company is still reportedly looking into beefing up its New York presence.

Less than a week after reports surfaced that the tech giant may be seeking close to 1 million square feet of distribution space in Brooklyn’s Industry City, Crain’s reports that the company is also considering building a ground-up distribution facility in Maspeth, Queens.

Citing “sources familiar with the firm’s real estate plans,” Crain’s says the company is eyeing an industrial site at 55-15 Grand Avenue, between Newtown Creek and Rust Street/56th Road, for a new warehouse space covering over 700,000 square feet. The property was purchased by RXR Realty and LBA Realty last year for $72 million, and is already being cleared to make way for potential new development.

A spokesperson for Amazon declined to comment on the Maspeth or Industry City deals, but if both come to pass, the e-commerce giant will have major hubs in all of the outer boroughs. The company already operates a more than 850,000-square-foot fulfillment center in Staten Island, located on the borough’s western shore; it also plans to open a more than 120,000-square-foot distribution center in Hunts Point in the South Bronx. The company is also reportedly seeking office space in Midtown West and at the former Lord & Taylor building that housed its flagship store on Fifth Avenue.