Amazon recently announced its plans to expand its operation in Dutchess County at the 631,000-square-foot site on Route 52 in East Fishkill. The project is expected to create more than 500 full-time jobs and hundreds of part-time jobs. The project is Amazon’s first in Dutchess County and third in New York State.
“We are proud to continue our growth and investment in New York with a new fulfillment center in Dutchess County that will serve our customers across the state,” Alicia Boler Davis, Amazon’s Vice President of Global Customer Fulfillment said in a statement. “The Empire State and its incredible workforce have been vital to our ability to provide great selection, competitive prices, and the Prime services we know our customers love. We are excited to create hundreds of new job opportunities – with great pay and great benefits – and remain committed to driving a positive economic impact in the community.”
In 2018, Think Dutchess identified a developer who would be interested in redeveloping the former IBM West Campus, which had laid dormant for over 20 years. Negotiations continued in 2020 for the site which remained a priority for the County. The greatest milestone was the commitment to be made by Amazon.com Services LLC in 2020 allowing USEF Tioranda LLC to move forward with the purchase of the site. The project is a testament to the advantages of doing business in Dutchess County. Its strategic location with easy access to the I-84 corridor makes it well-positioned to succeed and support our distribution and logistics industry sector.
“The vision of the County Executive, Marcus Molinaro and Assistant County Executive Ron Hick and coordination with community leaders including Nicholas D’Alessandro, Supervisor of Town of East Fishkill we have overcome many obstacles to market and attract suitable users to the site,” said Sarah Lee, CEO of Think Dutchess. “While Think Dutchess worked to market the site and attract a user, the work of our government leaders and the DCIDA shepherded this project to reality.”
“This project is the largest redevelopment project in the history of East Fishkill,” said town supervisor Nicholas D’Alessandro in a recent press release. “This type of redevelopment is exactly what the town needs, repurposing older industrial sites into new projects that will bring more jobs, tax dollars, and stability to our community,” he said. “This project is not only beneficial economically to East Fishkill but Dutchess County and the whole Hudson Valley.”
“This investment and the expected creation of 500 jobs is a result of a proactive and targeted economic development strategy to redevelop commercial properties in Dutchess County for their highest and best use,” Dutchess County Executive Marc Molinaro said. “What has been a largely vacant and blighted site will be transformed into a state-of-the-art logistics facility, create hundreds of jobs, and significantly improve the traffic flow and appearance of the Route 52 corridor.”