Rep. Tom Reed, R-Corning, discussed a report out of Buffalo that Chautauqua County is being looked at as a potential site for a proposed Amazon "megaproject," a regional distribution center that when completed would be one of the largest in the world. P-J photo by Cameron Hurst

U.S. Rep. Tom Reed, R-Corning, told the OBSERVER that he, too, has been advocating for Trammell Crow Co. and Amazon to consider Chautauqua County as the site for a distribution center after withdrawing from an originally scheduled project in Grand Island.

“I am very familiar with the folks behind the proposal up in Grand Island, a group out of Texas in particular that is the primary folks involved in that project,” Reed said during a visit Friday morning at the James Prendergast Library. “When that situation developed I immediately reached out to our folks there and said, ‘Look, I’m offering some opportunities — if you’re looking in New York, we know of some areas that are very close to Grand Island that would be open to welcoming you rather than rejecting you.’

He added, “So stay tuned — we’re going to lean on that relationship in particular and highlight this place like we always do and say that this is a place you want to come and do business and if you want to do that type of business, Chautauqua County in particular, is right along a thruway, has some good open land that could be developed in a way to allow them to hit their metrics that they need to hit in order to meet their requirements for operations.”

The county, according to a report by Buffalo Business First, is one of several other potential sites Amazon is looking at for its proposed “megaproject,” a regional distribution center that when completed would be one of the largest in the world. Amazon had been looking at Grand Island, but announced this week it was pulling out and looking at alternative sites.

Chautauqua County Executive PJ Wendel was quick to promote the benefits of bringing Amazon to the area.

“Awesome news that Chautauqua County is reportedly in consideration for the new Amazon facility in Western New York,” Wendel said in a message posted to Facebook. “Weeks ago at the first sign of opposition on Grand Island, I called our County of Chautauqua Industrial Development Agency-CCIDA team on a Saturday to ensure we were continuing to make Chautauqua County part of the conversation for this project. They got to work that weekend and we have remained in contact with Invest Buffalo Niagara and others to submit potential sites and provide information as needed. We will continue working hard to bring this monumental project to Chautauqua County.”

Mark Geise, deputy county executive for economic development, said officials are working with Invest Buffalo Niagara to “promote Chautauqua County as a good location.”

He added: “We have provided several sites for consideration. That being said, we are being very proactive.”

Since 2010, one of the sites the county Industrial Development Agency has been looking to market is in the town of Ripley near the state Thruway toll booths. That area remains available.