By Matt Friedman and Jarrett Renshaw/Star-Ledger Staff

TRENTON — Online retail giant Amazon.com plans to build two huge distribution centers in New Jersey, creating what Gov. Chris Christie said today will be 1,500 full-time jobs.

But New Jerseyans intent on buying a big-screen TV or laptop computer should act quickly: Come July 2013, Amazon will start collecting a 7 percent state sales tax — whether or not the sprawling warehouses are built.

"We will now in the state of New Jersey begin collecting sales tax at least from a fraction of the market we otherwise would not have gotten," Christie said at a Statehouse news conference, adding the deal would also lead to "thousands" of part-time, seasonal and construction jobs.

Amazon and other out-of-state online retailers currently do not collect the 7 percent sales taxes from New Jersey customers that in-state merchants are required to charge. Although residents are supposed to pay the levy when they file their income tax returns, few do.

Christie said that although forecasts differ on how much sales tax revenue the state will bring in, he put a "safe estimate" at $30 million to $40 million.

At the same time, the Seattle-based company plans to apply for tax incentives from the state Economic Development Authority, but its officials did not say how much they would seek.

"Certainly we’re going to have to work out the economic development arrangements," said Paul Misener, Amazon’s vice president for global public policy, who attended today’s news conference.

Amazon has been involved in talks with state officials for months, first with legislators and then with members of the Christie administration, to open the facilities in New Jersey, but the decision was delayed while the company sought a two-year sales tax holiday.

A bill to let Amazon hold off on charging the sales tax was approved in the Assembly but stalled in the Senate. Sponsors of the measure said today the effort was now moot.

"We need jobs, economic growth and a level playing field, and we get all three with this agreement," Assemblyman Al Coutinho (D-Essex), a sponsor of the measure to delay the sales tax, said.

Misener said the proposed warehouses, each about 1 million square feet, are large enough to house 25 football fields. Similar centers drew critical media attention after a Pennsylvania newspaper reported temperatures led workers to faint and suffer other heat-related ailments.

"We’ve taken it upon ourselves to invest over $50 million in new air-conditioning equipment so that circumstance can never happen again," he said.

Christie and Misener both called for enactment of a federal bill to allow states to charge sales tax on purchases made from out-of-state retailers.

Misener said the company has not decided where the distribution centers will be situated, though similar facilities are clustered near Exit 8A of the Turnpike.

John Holub, president of the New Jersey Retail Merchants Association, called the agreement "great news" because "there’s been no bigger issue facing retailers than sales tax fairness and we now have a definitive date at which Amazon can no longer exploit this loophole."

But Holub also expressed concern that other online retailers aren’t bound by the agreement. "There are a whole host of internet-only retailers that will exploit this loophole," he said.

Gordon MacInnes, president of New Jersey Policy Perspective, a progressive research organization — which has been critical of the state for offering so many tax incentives to lure companies — said he needed more details about the agreement but felt positively about its outlines.

"If I were a member of the Legislature and the deal was presented as I read it today, I would vote for it," MacInnes said, adding that "this looks like a deal that is closer to the intent of granting those incentives than most that have been struck in the last two years."

Related coverage:

• If N.J. legislature doesn't approve Amazon tax holiday today, it'll have to table deal for two months of budget negotiations

• N.J. lawmakers start push to bring Amazon.com warehouses to state

• N.J. retailers balk at Amazon's proposal to open two warehouses in exchange for sales tax holiday