The e-retailer rents an entire building across from the Empire State Building, but says it will sub-lease the ground floor retail space to others. Amazon says it is leasing the building “primarily as corporate office space.”

Nov. 21 (Bloomberg) — Amazon.com Inc., the world’s biggest online retailer, leased 470,000 square feet (44,000 square meters) at a midtown Manhattan property owned by Vornado Realty Trust that’s across the street from the Empire State Building.

The agreement, at 7 W. 34th St. in the Herald Square shopping district, is for 17 years, New York-based Vornado said in a statement yesterday. No additional details were provided.

Amazon’s lease would be for all of the office space in the building, according to CoStar Group Inc., a Washington-based research firm that tracks real estate deals. The Seattle-based retailer has been looking for a New York base of operations for about two years. In 2012, Amazon expanded its offices at 1350 Avenue of the Americas in Midtown to 92,500 square feet.

“We have leased this building primarily as corporate office space and we intend to sublease to other tenants the ground-floor retail space,” said Kelly Cheeseman, a spokeswoman for Amazon.

Wendi Kopsick, a spokeswoman for Vornado at Kekst & Co., said the real estate company would have no comment beyond the statement.

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Amazon is No. 1 in the Internet Retailer Top 500 Guide.

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