How Amazon targeted Worcester: Emails show a dialogue that started with COVID tests at Greendale Mall evolved to e-commerce distribution center
Updated Feb 06, 2021;
Posted Feb 06, 2021
Amazon announced Tuesday it had signed a lease for a delivery center on Goddard Memorial Drive in Worcester.
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Before any mention of Amazon, the dialogue between the new owner of the Greendale Mall and the city of Worcester began with COVID-19.
In late July of 2020, Worcester’s Chief Development Officer Peter Dunn fired off a “shot in the dark question” via email to Todd Finard, who operates Finard Properties, the group that owns the Greendale Mall.
A series of industrial leases and a major sale in Central Massachusetts are part of a continually strong market in the Boston area, according to a report by the New York City real estate advisory firm Newmark.
Those deals include a previously reported 600,000-square-foot lease by Amazon at 330 and 350 Bartlett St. in Northborough and a lease extension by Nestle Water at 66 Saratoga Blvd. in Devens. WESCO Distribution has also signed a 121,700-square-foot lease at 35 Otis St. in Westborough.
The industrial market also brought one of the largest transactions across the Boston area in the fourth quarter of 2020: a $76-million sale of two adjacent warehouses in Bellingham that have a combined 428,000 square feet. The property was bought by a limited liability corporation registered to John Hancock Real Estate in Boston in a deal closed last October.
WORCESTER The Planning Board Wednesday night approved a definitive site plan for the proposed demolition and redevelopment of the Greendale Mall as an Amazon last mile distribution center.
Residents who attended the virtual meeting continued to bring up concerns about traffic, pedestrian and cyclist safety, environmental impacts, noise, and the online retail giant s business practices that they raised at the last Planning Board meeting and at a community meeting Monday night.
They again called for more ironclad commitments in the form of a community benefits agreement with the city, and wanted assurances that the company could be held accountable if its project turned out not to operate as it was laid out in the site plan application.
Amazon plans second last mile delivery center in Worcester
WORCESTER Amazon plans to operate a distribution center at a second location in Worcester.
In addition to a proposal at the Greendale Mall, Amazon Logistics has signed a lease to open a 177,000-square-foot last mile delivery station at 125 Goddard Memorial Drive, a building formerly occupied by TE Connectivity and situated near Worcester Regional Airport.
Amazon said the company expects to open the Goddard Drive location in early 2021.
“The Worcester delivery station will create hundreds of great full- and part-time jobs, with industry-leading pay, benefits starting on Day One, and training programs for in-demand jobs. At Amazon, we strive to be not only a great employer, but a great neighbor too. That means becoming part of the fabric of Worcester by embracing the people, the needs, and the spirit of the community, an Amazon spokesperson said in a written statement Tuesday.