Amazon inks industrial lease in Long Island last-mile push

E-commerce giant signed for 246K sf at former Newsday site

Phil Heilpern, Andy Jassy and 90 Ruland Road in Melville (CBRE, Getty)
Phil Heilpern, Andy Jassy and 90 Ruland Road in Melville (CBRE, Getty)

Amazon has made another move in Long Island’s hot industrial market.

The e-commerce giant inked a 10-year lease for a 246,000-square-foot warehouse at 90 Ruland Road in Melville, Long Island Business News reported. The building is one of two being developed by Hartz Mountain Industries at the former Newsday site in the Suffolk County town.

Hartz Mountain purchased the 48.5-acre site in 2018 for $54.5 million, breaking ground on construction less than a year ago. LIBN reported the other warehouse is still under development, but is expected to span 600,000 square feet.

In June, the county’s Industrial Development Agency board postponed approval of tax breaks for the development because of backlash involving the other warehouse under development. Critics said Hartz Mountain was using out-of-state contractors for the project.

As for Amazon’s newly leased space, the property includes 40-foot ceilings, 47 loading docks and two drive-in bays. KBR and Frank Frizalone of Cushman & Wakefield represented Amazon in the deal, while Hartz Mountain Industries was represented by Phil Heilpern and Paul Leone of CBRE.

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“While this prospective project is still in the early stages, we are excited about the potential to bring new jobs with great pay and benefits to the area and to continue our investment in the state of New York,” Amazon spokesperson Verena Gross told Newsday, keeping specific plans for the site under wraps.

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Amazon has been nabbing plenty of space on Long Island, including 10 last-mile warehouses, four of which are already operating. One year ago, the company leased two other buildings in Melville for last-mile fulfillment centers, spanning 300,000 square feet.

For those looking to stay abreast of the news on Long Island, Newsday isn’t out of a home. In 2019, Newsday Media Group signed a 15-year lease on a 130,000-square-foot complex about a mile from one of the two warehouse developments. The newspaper runs its distribution operations out of a warehouse in Farmingdale.

[LIBN] — Holden Walter-Warner