Amazon nears lease at RXR’s Queens warehouse development

Developers RXR Realty and LBA Logistics paid $72M in 2018 to buy the Maspeth properties

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and RXR CEO Scott Rechler with 56-19 Grand Avenue in Queens (Credit: Getty Images, Google Maps)
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and RXR CEO Scott Rechler with 56-19 Grand Avenue in Queens (Credit: Getty Images, Google Maps)

RXR Realty’s big bet on logistics space in Queens has paid off.

Amazon is in talks to lease the massive vertical warehouse RXR and partner and LBA Logistics are constructing in Maspeth, according to Crain’s.

Last year, RXR and LBA revealed plans for a 770,000-square-foot, four-story logistics center in the industrial section of Maspeth, which sought to attract “retailers, e-commerce and New York-centric companies looking to satisfy the expedited shipping demands of customers in the largest consumer base in the United States.”

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The developers paid $72 million in 2018 to buy the properties at 54-15, 55-15 and 56-19 Grand Avenue.

Now, the site will serve as a staging ground for the continued expansion of Amazon’s network of last-mile delivery warehouses. Maspeth is located close to dense residential areas and would provide Amazon with access to Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan and the Bronx.

But the deal could reignite tensions between Amazon, elected officials, community groups and organized labor, according to Crain’s. Amazon has so far scuttled attempts to unionize the retail giant’s Staten Island warehouse.

After Amazon cancelled plans for a Long Island City headquarters on Valentine’s Day, the online retailer has continued its expansion elsewhere in the city, eyeing multiple office sites in Manhattan and logistic spaces in Brooklyn and Queens. [Crain’s] — Georgia Kromrei