JOHNSTON – The cat is out of the bag – and it’s being lured to Johnston with a potential tax break.
Town officials revealed what was long rumored – Amazon.com Services LLC is behind the proposed $290 million, 3.8-million-square-foot distribution facility at 2120 Hartford Ave. – when they filed a proposed tax stabilization agreement for Amazon last week with the R.I. Secretary of State’s Office.
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According to the agreement, Amazon would be locked into a schedule of annual payments, starting at $5.7 million in January 2024 and ending at $9.1 million in January 2044, for a total of $145.6 million over 20 years.
If the company were to pay $28.67 per $1,000 of assessed property value – the latest commercial tax rate set by the mayor and approved by the Town Council – the annual tax payment would be about $7.8 million, or approximately $155.9 million over the course of 20 years. That’s a savings of about $10 million if the property was assessed at that value and the tax rate remained level for 20 years, although tax rates are subject to change every year.
In addition to creating 1,500 full-time jobs, Amazon said the project also includes community benefits, which could exceed $12 million over the 20-year period, including a traffic mitigation study that could cost up to $1 million, a contribution to the Rhode Island Small Business Assistance Program of up to $2.8 million, and $582,500 per year to form a Johnston High School Pathway Program to help students find career paths that are right for them.
Providence Business News reached out to Mayor Joseph M. Polisena for comment on this story, leaving messages at his office, but did not yet hear back.
Up until now, the project had been referred to cryptically by the mayor and others under code name “Project Schooner,” ever since the subject was first brought up at a town Planning Board meeting in February when a real estate development company filed for permits to construct the six-story facility and parking lot on nearly 200 acres of land, now covered with trees, off of Route 6 on at 2120 Hartford Ave.
The company was represented by Bluewater Property Group LLC, a New York-based industrial real estate development company, including a lawyer named Don Chase who referred to the then-mystery company as “my confidential client.”
The Planning Board previously approved the retail fulfillment center during a special meeting held in July.
The Town Council will hold a public hearing on the proposal at 7 p.m. on Sept. 15 at Johnston High School. The council needs to sign off on the project and the tax deal before construction can begin.
Chase previously said the goal is to construct the building in time to open in the first half of 2023.
Marc Larocque is a PBN staff writer. Contact him at Larocque@PBN.com.
