Amazon Chooses New York City, Arlington for Additional HQs

Amazon has decided to split its new headquarters, named HQ2, between New York City and Arlington, Virginia.

According to CNN Business, Amazon “picked New York’s Long Island City and Arlington County’s Crystal City neighborhoods,” out of the 238 cities, counties, and states which attempted to court Amazon with incentives.

Amazon is also receiving over $1.5 billion from New York for basing its headquarters there, and $573 million from Arlington.

New York is paying Amazon $1.5 billion: https://t.co/NqJcZyBfU2

— Felix Salmon (@felixsalmon) November 13, 2018

That’s 3X what Crystal City/Arlington is paying

— Felix Salmon (@felixsalmon) November 13, 2018

“Amazon will invest $5 billion and create more than 50,000 jobs across the two new headquarters locations, with more than 25,000 employees each in New York City and Arlington. The new locations will join Seattle as the company’s three headquarters in North America,” declared Amazon in a blog post. “In addition, Amazon announced that it has selected Nashville for a new Center of Excellence for its Operations business, which is responsible for the company’s customer fulfillment, transportation, supply chain, and other similar activities. The Operations Center of Excellence in Nashville will create more than 5,000 jobs.”

“The new Washington, D.C. metro headquarters in Arlington will be located in National Landing, and the New York City headquarters will be located in the Long Island City neighborhood in Queens. Amazon’s investments in each new headquarters will spur the creation of tens of thousands of additional jobs in the surrounding communities,” the company continued, adding, “Hiring at both the new headquarters will begin in 2019.”

In a statement, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos declared, “We are excited to build new headquarters in New York City and Northern Virginia… These two locations will allow us to attract world-class talent that will help us to continue inventing for customers for years to come. The team did a great job selecting these sites, and we look forward to becoming an even bigger part of these communities.”

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio also celebrated the move.

“With Amazon committing to expand its headquarters in Long Island City, New York can proudly say that we have attracted one of the largest, most competitive economic development investments in U.S. history,” Cuomo proclaimed. “With an average salary of $150,000 per year for the tens of thousands of new jobs Amazon is creating in Queens, economic opportunity and investment will flourish for the entire region.”

In his own statement, de Blasio expressed, “This is a giant step on our path to building an economy in New York City that leaves no one behind. We are thrilled that Amazon has selected New York City for its new headquarters… New Yorkers will get tens of thousands of new, good-paying jobs, and Amazon will get the best talent anywhere in the world.”

In an attempt to woo Amazon into choosing them, many cities and states tried to incentivize the company through tax break offers and gimmicks.

Kansas City Mayor Sly James bought and reviewed 1,000 Amazon products in an attempt to entice the company, while Stonecrest, Georgia, offered to rename itself Amazon, Georgia, and give the company 345 acres of land.

In January, a shortlist was created, which included, Atlanta, GA, Austin, TX, Boston, MA, Chicago, IL, Columbus, OH, Dallas, TX, Denver, CO, Indianapolis, IN, Los Angeles, CA, Miami, FL, Montgomery County, MD, Nashville, TN, Newark, NJ, New York City, NY, Northern Virginia, VA, Philadelphia, PA, Pittsburgh, PA, Raleigh, NC, Toronto, Canada, and Washington D.C.