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Cromwell, CT (Hartford Business Journal) – In recent years, many Connecticut cities, in addition to Hartford and East Hartford, were among the many applicants who tried to pressure e-commerce giant Amazon to build its headquarters in the state.
But despite the recruitment efforts of former governor Dannel P. Malloy and his predecessor, Ned Lamont, the state was not on a short list of cities that the online store encovered for its $2.5 billion headquarters before Northern Virginia named the Amazon winner. . Draw “HQ2”.
However, as Amazon continues to dominate as the world’s largest retailer, the Seattle-based company has made major investments in northeastern Connecticut, where it introduced several distribution sites this year.
An investigation into the presence of the e-commerce giant in Connecticut shows that it lasts to occupy more than 3 million feet in Windsor, North Haven, Cromwell, Stratford, Wallingford, Bristol, Orange and Windsor Locks Bradley International Airport. It also plans to occupy 1.1 million more feet in the services of Windsor, Wallingford and Danbury next year.
The region’s real estate agents, who already employ thousands of people in Connecticut, say the company is elsewhere in the eastern and western parts of the state, as the coronavirus pandemic has accelerated the boom in e-commerce.
Meanwhile, Amazon, which has not responded to comment requests, is in talks with the largest owner of U.S. malls. To convert previous or existing J.C. Penney and Sears retail outlets into distribution centers to deliver packages.
Brokers say the deal may make sense for Amazon and mall operator Simon Property Group, as adjustments to the e-commerce landscape and many physical outlets close for good.
“I think taking care of grocery shopping is a wonderful use of those buildings,” said Nicholas Morizio, Hartford’s president for the Colliers International real estate broker. “It’s a wonderful need.”
Amazon, which recently announced the launch of its new 403,000-square-foot large goods distribution center in Cromwell, said it has invested more than $2.1 billion in Connecticut over the past decade in genuine real estate, cloud infrastructure, and paying 8,500 units in total and partial parts. -employees on time. The corporation also estimated that its investments contributed at least $600 million to the state economy during this period.
Amazon recently said its developing presence is accelerating delivery times for consumers and the more than 17,500 independent authors and small and medium-sized Connecticut businesses they sell on the company’s website.
But some have expressed fear that Amazon’s growing presence in the state, in addition to the continued expansion of online shopping, could stifle retail physical activity.
Others, however, that those fears are wrong.
Timothy Phelan, president of the Connecticut Retail Association, said he welcomed Amazon’s growing presence in the state as he helped generate a significant amount of tax gains and create thousands of jobs with salaries of $15 an hour.
In 2013, Phelan suggested state legislators force Amazon to start collecting Connecticut’s 6.35 percent sales tax in hopes of generating about $15 million a year in plus sales taxes. It is transparent how much annual tax gain Amazon generates in Connecticut, however, the state grossed about $250 million in online tax gains on retail sales in fiscal 2020, according to the Department of Tax Services.
“We believe that as long as the floor is the point and everyone plays according to the same set of rules, we will simply allow the market to dictate,” he said. “The fact that Amazon is expanding in Connecticut only reinforces the importance of each store having an e-commerce site.”
The Amazon store at Norwalk’s SoNo Collection Mall and its search for other vacant grocery shopping spaces across the country, Phelan said, are encouraging because it shows that the company believes consumers still have a face-to-face shopping experience. He added that Amazon’s top festival will also drive local stores to innovate in their sales strategies.
“I’m sure we have enough stores in Connecticut that will give consumers enough selection to compete,” Phelan said. “Consumers have a lot of choices, and that’s the kind of combination we need to see.”
Jim Burke, Windsor’s director of economic development, said Amazon would be the city’s largest employer with about 2,700 workers after launching its $230 million distribution moment amid the old tobacco farmland on Kennedy Road in the fourth quarter of 2021.
Amazon first broke into Connecticut in 2015 with the launch of its 1.2 million square foot distribution center on Old Iron Ore Road. Today, Burke said he employs more than 1,700 full-time and part-time workers.
The city’s largest employers, he said, come with Hartford Financial Services Group and Voya Financial, which lately employ about 2,000 and 1,500 workers, respectively.
In Cromwell, Amazon has introduced in recent weeks what is called the first large-scale progression in the north of the city.
City officials expected a major tenant to occupy the 120 County Line Dr facility that Indiana developer Scannell Properties, who is also building Amazon’s new Windsor facility, had been marketing for more than a year before Amazon committed to assets last winter.
The so-called “speculative” progression has rarely been seen in those days in the Greater Hartford advertising and advertising market since the 2008 currency crisis triggered the Great Recession.
Stuart Popper, Cromwell’s director of planing and development, said he believed the 36-acre operation on Amazon could attract more commercial advances to the area.
“Everyone said, ‘This is a brilliant resolution or a disaster,'” Popper said of the structure of the facility through Scannell without a committed tenant. “Now it’s a brilliant gesture.”
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