Governor Andrew Cuomo visited the Gap distribution center in Fishkill and made a major announcement about its future. One of the warehouses was destroyed by a fire in August. J'Nelle Agee has more from the Gap campus.
FISHKILL, N.Y. -- Workers, county and state leaders and representatives from the Gap gathered to discuss the restructuring that's been going on at the Gap campus since the fire in August.
More than 1,200 employees are back to work at the Gap distribution facility in Fishkill after the fire. Officials say they were looking at other locations, but decided to stay in Fishkill and make other buildings on the campus into pop-up shops."
"For us, when the fire broke out, we were certainly scared first that anyone would be hurt -- and thank God no one was -- but at the end of the day, we are grateful to the Gap and the Gap team that they remain committed to Dutchess County, committed to the state of New York and that these 1,200 families have a job and have a paycheck," said Dutchess County Executive Marc Molinaro.
The distribution center, which is the size of 52 football fields, is the largest distribution center in North America. Governor Andrew Cuomo says the state has been a committed financial partner, providing funding for the pop-up shop. The Empire State Development says a $2.65 million grant was approved to assist the Gap with employee compensation.
"This is essential to Gap's operation, and when you think about fourth quarter, over half of your business, your main distribution facility, how dense the Northeast is in terms of population, and business, I think it was really important," said Empire State Development President Howard Zemsky.
"I'm so pleased that we were able to continue their pay while we weren't able to have work for them," said Gap Inc. VP and Regional GM Jim Young, "and now they're all back as of last week. They're all back, and plus, we've hired 300 more folks to make sure we deliver the holiday. It's awesome."
The creation of the pop-up shops allows operations for all of the retailer's brands -- Old Navy, Gap and Banana Republic -- to be under the same roof. Previously, they were in two separate locations on the campus.
"This is going to cover a big portion of what we were going to be able to ship to our online customers, selling to the Northeast, from the destroyed building," Young said, "so without this, we would miss our customer commitments dramatically."
Gap officials say operations are almost back to normal, with Black Friday and the holidays just around the corner.