LI sites among those being submitted for Amazon HQ2

Sites on Long Island are among those being submitted by the state to Amazon.com as potential locations for its second headquarters in North America, according to economic development sources.

The deadline for submissions to the online retailer, for what it dubs “Amazon HQ2,” is Thursday.

Empire State Development, the state’s primary business-aid agency, has been helping to assemble and submit a unified bid on behalf of the Island, New York City and the lower Hudson Valley, said the sources who request anonymity because they aren’t authorized to speak publicly.

Amazon’s plan for another headquarters campus, besides the one in its hometown of Seattle, has sparked a continental competition because the project promises 50,000 jobs and more than $5 billion in capital investment.

The winner is to be announced next year.

Nassau County submitted Belmont Park in Elmont to the development agency as a potential headquarters site; Suffolk County nominated Heartland Town Square in Brentwood; and Brookhaven Town offered Calabro Airport in Shirley, the county executives and town supervisor said last month.

It was unclear Wednesday whether the development agency is submitting all the sites to Amazon for consideration, though local officials said they believed all would be sent.

“Our economic development office submitted all of our information for the bid application to New York State Empire State Development,” said Brookhaven Town spokesman Kevin Molloy. “New York State ESD was going to be sending the bid application for all of the sites.”

Nicholas Terzulli, business development director for the Nassau County Industrial Development Agency, said the county had submitted the Belmont site “through ESD.”

A spokesman for Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone didn’t immediately respond Wednesday to a request for comment.

Other regions, including the Buffalo, Rochester, Albany areas are expected to put in bids separately.

Amazon has discouraged individual towns and cities from applying, seeking one application from each Metropolitan Statistical Area. New York State is home to three eligible metropolitan statistical areas, including Buffalo, Rochester and New York City, which includes Long Island and parts of Connecticut and northern New Jersey.

An ESD official, who requested anonymity, said the state will provide incentives, such as tax breaks and low-cost electricity, “to any qualified MSAs who want to submit a proposal.”

ESD CEO Howard Zemsky said, in a statement, “We are doing everything we can to attract Amazon HQ2 and 50,000 jobs to the Empire State.”

Last month, the online retailer expanded its footprint in New York City, adding an office at 5 Manhattan West, where 2,000 people will eventually work.

Amazon also has a warehouse in Bethpage.