Amazon Comes To North Andover: What Happens Now?

NORTH ANDOVER, MA — Amazon's announcement Tuesday that it plans to build a warehouse in North Andover set off a flurry of excitement. With a promise of 1,500 jobs and the restoration of tax revenue from the Osgood Landing site, local leaders in North Andover and surrounding communities were quick to praise the proposal Wednesday morning. But there are still several steps before the first employee is hired and the first package is shipped from the facility.

Amazon's identity as the potential tenant had been secret until Tuesday, when former Town Manager Andrew Maylor announced the deal in a Twitter post. North Andover selectmen have already scheduled a special town meeting for June 18 to make changes to the town's zoning rules to clear the way for the project. Amazon wants to tear down the buildings on the site and build a new facility. The rule changes include allowing a 105-foot-tall building and a proposal to extend the sewer line at 1600 Osgood Street.

"I believe this will be a great addition to North Andover, and the zoning changes that are being requested are reasonable," Selectman Phil DeCologero posted on Facebook. "But this isn’t my decision - it’s all of ours."

North Andover’s Acting Town Manager Lyne Savage told the Eagle-Tribune Tuesday that the cost of extending the sewer line will be about $7 million. The town needs to work out a cost-sharing plan for those expenses with the online retailer, as well as look to tap into state economic development funding. "We’re not going to foot the bill for the whole $7 million," she told the newspaper.

Before the special town meeting, Amazon officials will hold a series of community forums to outline the details of the project. They include:

• Wednesday, 6p.m. - 7:30 p.m. at the VFW at 32 Park Street.
• Sunday 3:30 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. at the VFW.

Those meetings are open to the public, as are the other meetings and hearings town boards and committees will need to schedule before the June 18 special town meeting.

Leaders Say Project Is A Win For The Merrimack Valley

When Amazon held a national competition for its second headquarters beginning in 2017, the Osgood site was a centerpiece of a proposal submitted by a consortium of Merrimack Valley communities. At the time, the proposal was seen as a long shot bid as the proposal competed with scores of proposals from around the country, including one from Boston. Amazon eventually decided to split the new headquarters between New York City and Virginia, then scrapped the plan for New York.

The mayors of Haverhill and Lawrence issued statements praising the project. Those two cities joined Andover and North Andover in putting together a proposal when Amazon was looking for a place for its second headquarters.

"When North Andover, Andover, Haverhill and Lawrence put together our regional proposal with the Merrimack Valley Planning Commission in the fall of 2017 to bring Amazon’s headquarters to the Merrimack Valley, we knew it was a long shot,” Haverhill Mayor James Fiorentini said. "But the idea was that even if we didn’t get, hopefully we could get a subsidiary business or project somewhere down the line and that’s exactly what’s happened. This is going to bring a lot of jobs to Haverhill and the region and is great news."

"This just shows that a region working together can compete for jobs and development together," Lawrence Mayor Daniel Rivera said. "Amazon opening in North Andover is the same as restaurants opening in Haverhill. Lawrence is happy to provide the work force."

While the 1,500 jobs coming with the facility pales in comparison to the 50,000 a second headquarters would have brought, Hillwood Inc. said those jobs will have starting salaries of $15 per hour when company officials met with selectmen.

Hillwood has been retained by Amazon to develop 30 such sites for the online retailer around the country as it looks to increase its distribution network. The company is pushing to offer more same-day delivery options and become less reliant on third-party shipping companies like UPS and the U.S. Postal Service.

The move also ends the long saga of efforts to find a long-term, stable anchor for 1600 Osgood. North Andover has been looking for a tenant for the massive property since Lucent scaled back operations at the facility in 2003. At its peak, 12,000 people worked there. The site had also been eyed as a possible site for a cannabis farm as the state continues its move to legalized, recreational marijuana and retail cannabis sales.