Warehouses are transforming NYC neighborhoods as e-commerce grows

But the rise of warehouses has also led to a lot of resistance. While they provide jobs and can reduce property taxes by contributing to the local tax base, people across the region say the major hubs will lead to constant flows of semi-trucks and vans that will exacerbate pollution and traffic congestion.

They have also complained about the loss of open land to mega installations. In recent months, residents in New Jersey’s southern borough of Pilesgrove, across the Delaware River from Wilmington, Del., have protested plans for a 1.6 million-square-foot warehouse—larger than Ellis Island—on former farmland. .

While Amazon, major retailers and logistics operators such as UPS, FedEx and DHL dominated the first wave of warehouse deals at the start of the pandemic, interest is now emerging from smaller companies seeking greater control over their supply chain amid a global bottleneck in the supply chain. movement of goods.

“I’ve been doing this for about 30 years and I’ve never seen it this way,” said Rob Kossar, a vice chairman at JLL who oversees the company’s industrial division in the Northeast. “In order for tenants to be able to secure space, they have to enter into leases with multiple landlords for spaces that are not even available. It’s insane what they have to do.”

Rising costs for lease facilities have frustrated some small business owners unable to compete with retail and logistics giants, as well as new entrants such as Tesla and Rivian, who have opened showrooms and service centers for their electric vehicles in warehouses in Brooklyn. For example, lease prices for warehouses in the Bronx have risen 22 percent since the start of the pandemic.

Warehouse jobs are still only a fraction of the New York City workforce, but companies are looking for employees. Since 2019, the number of warehouse jobs has doubled to 16,500 positions by the end of 2021. New Amazon employees earn about $18 an hour and receive starting bonuses of up to $3,000. But the company is also battling workers in some of its warehouses, including on Staten Island, who are trying to unite unions to improve labor conditions.