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Your weather is set to. You can change the location at any time. AccuWeather.com Quick Look Change your current location ยป View Full Weather Report Search Search SILive.com Account Sign In Close Sign in toSILive.com You are signed in as Edit Public Profile Sign Out Subscribe Staten Island Advance E-Edition Newsletters Apps Staten Island Real-Time News Would Amazon open its second headquarters on Staten Island? Comment Updated on September 15, 2017 at 6:06 AM Posted on September 15, 2017 at 6:00 AM An exclusive sneak peek inside Matrix Global Logistics Park Staten Island By Tracey Porpora Porpora@siadvance.com STATEN ISLAND, N.Y.-- With a $100 million, 855,000-square-foot Amazon fulfillment center set to open on Staten Island's West Shore, Borough President James Oddo would love to lure the company to the North Shore to open its second headquarters. After an announcement last week that Amazon would be employing 2,250 people in a new warehouse at Matrix Global Logistics Park Staten Island on the West Shore, the mega online retailer also said it's seeking digs for a second national headquarters that wound employ 50,000. While there's not enough room at Matrix Logistics Park for Amazon HQ2, Oddo said a vertical structure could be built on the North Shore-- where employees could get to the facility via the Staten Island Ferry, future fast ferries, bus and/or train. "This would take some creativity. But you are a stone's throw away from the crossroads of the world in Manhattan. But you [Amazon] would have your own unique identity on this Island," said Oddo. "I think Amazon found us for the distribution center for the obvious pluses that we have; I think there are second different distinct pluses for a headquarters....We have a unique water-borne nature [on the North Shore waterfront], yet we are part of the Big Apple and the tri-state area employment pool," he added. REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS The Amazon HQ2 Request for Proposals (RFP) was issued last week. The borough president noted that he'd need the backing of the city to respond to the RFP. When asked recently about the potential for a New York City-based Amazon HQ2 campus, Mayor Bill de Blasio said: "We're always looking for opportunities to get more businesses in here to employ more New Yorkers, especially if they're good paying jobs that will help New Yorkers afford their own city. So I don't know the details of what they're trying to do, but we certainly want to have a conversation with them to see if they can have a bigger presence here." As to whether Amazon would consider opening a headquarters in the borough, a company spokesman wouldn't comment beyond Amazon's preferences for HQ2, which include: Metropolitan areas with more than 1 million people. A stable and business-friendly environment. Urban or suburban locations with the potential to attract and retain strong technical talent. Communities that think big and creatively when considering locations and real estate options. Amazon's Seattle-based headquarters is a big economic generator. From 2010 through 2016 it was responsible for funneling an additional $38 billion to the city's economy- every dollar invested by Amazon in Seattle generated an additional 1.4 dollars for the city's economy overall, said the company. NEW FULFILLMENT CENTER Empire State Development offered the company up to $18 million in tax credits through the Excelsior Jobs Program as incentive for Amazon to expand into New York. Announced last week, Amazon's new fulfillment center will allow full-time employees to work alongside advanced robotics to process Amazon orders, shipping them out to customers. "This is the biggest private sector job creator in the history of our borough when all is said and done," said Oddo. Amazon's fulfillment center will take up the entire 850,000-square-foot building, known as Building 3, on the Matrix site. The building is currently under construction and should be complete by August 2018, said Joseph S. Taylor, president and CEO of the Cranbury, N.J.-based Matrix Development Group. "We are thrilled that they [Amazon] selected the site, and that we were able to work out a transaction to bring them to the site," said Taylor. "We think it certainly helps to have a large stamp of approval from one of the best companies in the country.... One of the reasons they are coming is because of the substantial labor pool in Staten Island." Amazon has yet to reveal when the facility would open or begin hiring. OTHER MATRIX STRUCTURES Matrix has almost completed construction of the first warehouse-- a 975,000-square-foot building the size of 27 football fields-- on the 200-acre site. Matrix Development says it is in negotiations with a big-name retailer to take 60,000 square feet of that warehouse, which is the first of four buildings that will be housed on the site, said Taylor. The company also recently started construction of a 450,000-square-foot warehouse on the site, he added. "What folks have to understand is Amazon is just the first of many more companies to come to this site, as well the neighboring site owned by Staten Island Marine Development," said Oddo. FOLLOW TRACEY PORPORA ON FACEBOOK