At the February Galloway Township Planning Board meeting, Amazon’s intentions were announced for the construct a 181,000-square-foot “last mile” delivery station at Aloe Street and Genoa Avenue in the Township. With severely declining revenues and growing concern about a major economic down-turn, officials from the township and Atlantic County now say that proposal has been scrapped by Amazon.
Aloe Street and Genoa Avenue area in Galloway Township where now failed Amazon warehouse plans serve to attract other business interests
According to reports, Ole Hansen & Sons, which owns the Aloe and Genoa property, confirmed that the Amazon project was dead in the water. While Amazon did not explain its decision, recent revenue and market losses and fear of an oncoming recession probably prompted the action. Ole Hansen is continuing to market the property and “several interested parties” have contacted the company about acquiring the land for future projects, a company official said. “Our 300 acres of industrial property in Galloway is an ideal site for development because it is in a wonderful location near major highways and the airport and has all utilities available to the property,” Ole Hansen & Sons CEO and President Jennifer Hansen said in an email to the Press of Atlantic City.
Galloway Township Mayor Anthony Coppola said Amazon officials told him they were no longer pursuing the project. Those officials, he said, attributed the decision to Amazon’s strategy of scaling back development nationwide, rather than concerns about the site. Like Hansen, Coppola told the media that the property is drawing attention from large companies interested in the site. While he declined to give their names, Coppola said one was another online retailer and the other was a company involved in the aviation industry. He said both companies had a national presence and did work globally. The two new companies, like Amazon, recognized the economic potential of the site. That plus, “Amazon gave that spot credibility,” Coppola reported.
At the time, it was reported that the 181,000 square foot Amazon delivery station would have served as an intermediate delivery station, redistributing client deliveries within a 45-minute-drive of the site. It was reported that Amazon was set to hire between 150 and 200 full-time employees, along with additional part-time staff, who were set to receive a wage of at least $15 per hour and a benefits package. Contract drivers would have been required to operate the site, which would have created another 300 to 500 jobs. It was set to operate 24 hours a day without in-store customer pickup.
In April, Amazon reported its first quarterly loss since 2015, dropping $3.84 billion. That loss was followed by a $2 billion quarterly loss reported in late August. Media sources also reported that “unprecedented unionization drives” have also impacted the online-retail giant, with workers at a Staten Island, New York, warehouse voting to form the first Amazon labor union in the United States in April. Union leaders eventually earned praise from several Democratic politicians, including President Joe Biden. The media reported that New Jersey U.S. Reps. Donald Norcross, D-1st, and Frank Pallone, D-6th, however, criticized Amazon in August for what they said were high rates of workplace injuries at New Jersey warehouses, including one incident in Carteret, Middlesex County, where an Amazon worker died during the company’s Prime Day sale from July 12 to 13.
Galloway recently joined the Atlantic County Economic Alliance, and it is reported that Township Mayor Coppola is working closely with it to develop the Aloe-Genoa site. ACEA President Lauren Moore confirmed the Amazon project was not in the works, and that two other developers were now interested.