Several deeds have been recorded in the Johnston Town Clerk’s office, closing the deal between Amazon and a group of Rhode Island landowners.
“Amazon closed on the 196-acres in late November,” according to Caitlin McLaughlin, spokesperson for Amazon operations in New England. “Construction has begun on the 3.8 million square foot robotics fulfillment center being built in Johnston.”
Amazon paid several groups of deed-holders more than $10 million to secure the land off Hartford Avenue, where the mega-online retailer plans to build a six-story, 3,864,972 square-foot “new, state-of-the-art Amazon Robotics Sortable Fulfillment Center.”
The facility is expected to cost around $290 million, and according to Johnston Mayor Joseph M. Polisena, construction at the site is finally underway.
“They brought some steel in, and now they’re bringing some construction vehicles in,” Polisena said Monday. “Right now, they want to get moving. They want to be in there by March of 2023.”
The “owner” line of the on the Tax Stabilization Agreement (TSA) unanimously approved by Johnston Town Council was intentionally left blank pending closure of the land deal. Although Amazon had cleared all local municipal hurdles, the start of construction also awaited closure of the land deal.
Ownership of an existing solar farm on the site had to be transferred. Site planners and engineers working for Amazon have said the company plans to maintain the solar farm.
“There was a delay on the closing … something to do with the solar farm, there was a hold back on the solar farm … some glitch,” Polisena said.
The land deal involves many strands weaving a complicated web of quitclaim and warranty deeds and agreements between the now former owners of forestland near the intersection of Interstate 295 and Route 6, and the land’s new owners, Amazon Services LLC, of Seattle, Washington.
Seven deeds were filed with the Johnston Town Clerk on Nov. 19. The deeds describe the transfer of around 195 acres from private, mostly local, ownership to Amazon.
Johnston Town Planner & Administrative Officer Thomas E. Deller filed a “notice of decision” on the Final Plan Review of the Major Land Development Plan on Nov. 17.
Lot lines were adjusted and deeds were shuffled, checks written and an “administrative subdivision” has been approved.
Two of the deeds represented the largest portion of the deal, and resulted in more than $10 million in payments.
Part of the land — Johnston Tax Assessor’s Plat 54, Lot 42 —had been owned by the Domenic Cassisi Revocable Trust, and was sold to Amazon for $4,800,000, according to a trustee’s deed filed on Nov. 19.
According to the GIS Map on the Town of Johnston website, the 38.10-acre lot was previously assessed at $270,200.
Lotojosa, LLC, and The Shelburne Company, LLC, sold a section of land — approximately 111.25 acres known as Plat 54, Lots 39, 40, 54, 89, 90 and 93 — to Amazon for $6,500,000, according to a quitclaim deed filed Nov. 19.
Those plots, combined, had previously been assessed at $1,143,700, according to the town’s online GIS Map.
The land had all been zoned B3, an Interchange Business District.
“This district is composed of large-scale, mixed-use development of a regional scale which may contain high-density residential, retail/commercial, office, light manufacturing projects and distribution facilities,” according to Johnston’s zoning laws. “The district is located at the highway interchanges within the Town.”
“I think it’s great for the state,” Polisena said. “You’re talking 2,000 jobs … look at all the money and you add it up and you divide it over 20 years.”
Job estimates have varied. McLaughlin said the facility is “expected to create up to 1,500 jobs,” once it opens.
The TSA with Johnston dictates Amazon will be required to make a series of 20 annual tax payments averaging more than $7.2 million each year for the next two decades.
The company will pay $5.7 million the first year, with a fixed annual 2.5 percent increase, raising the annual payment to more than $9 million by the 20th year.
McLaughlin said the facility’s completion date is scheduled for the “second half of 2023.”
“Amazon is proud to continue to invest and expand in Rhode Island,” McLaughlin said. “During 2010-2019, Amazon has invested more than $300 million in Rhode Island through investments in infrastructure and through compensation to employees across the state. Amazon's investments in Rhode Island contributed an additional $200+ million into state’s economy, and using methodology developed by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, Amazon estimates its investments in the state have created an additional 1,000+ indirect jobs on top of the company's 1,500+ direct hires.”
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