Grand Island Town Supervisor John Whitney sat down with Spectrum News Wednesday afternoon to discuss the proposal to build an e-commerce and distribution center on the Island, but fell short of confirming widespread speculation that it's Amazon.
Whitney says he was recently notified from the owners of Acquest that it has a purchase offer from TC Buffalo Development, represented by Phillips Lytle law firm.
That, was formed by Trammell Crow Company out of Texas to develop about 145 acres of land located at 2780 Long Road.
Again, it's to build a five-story distribution center of about 823,000 square feet and expected to bring 1,000 jobs to the area.
Whitney says he's concerned about the quality of jobs as well as the potential car and truck traffic and noise pollution.
And while he expects a lot of residents to be against the project, he's going to let it play out for now.
"It's way too early for us to even say that we are in favor or against. And to be fair to the developer and to be fair to the citizens of Grand Island, I'm not going to commit to that at this point because we have not thoroughly vetted all the concerns," Whitney (R) said.
Whitney says under the environmental process, the board is expected to hire a consultant, paid for by the developer, that will review traffic concerns.
There is a workshop meeting on Monday at 6 p.m. Phillips Lytle will present the project to the town board. Whitney says there will be no public comment or Q&A at that time.