Amazon HQ2 Announced

After a 14-month search, and more than 230 cities vying for Amazon offices, offering everything from tax incentives to naming rights, the company has zeroed in in two locations for new offices: Long Island City, Queens NY and Crystal City, Virginia. Splitting the company’s original 50,000 employee strong headquarters into two satellite offices, each with 25,000 employees.
Amazon outlined 9 key requirements for choosing these locations, including:
  • Up to 8 million square feet
  • A highly educated labor pool and strong university system
  • The ability to travel to/from an airport within 45 minutes
  • A high quality of life for the 50,000 employees to be located there
  • A business-friendly environment and tax structure that provides tax breaks and exemptions, fee reductions, workforce grants, and utility incentives, among other incentives.
  • Elected officials eager and willing to work with the company
After months of closed-door negotiations, Virginal governor Ralph Northam and local elected leaders in the D.C suburb of Arlington announced Amazon would receive $573M in subsidies, along with a $223M investment in transportation improvements. A similar announcement was also made by NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio and Governor Andrew Cuomo, with more than $1.5B in incentives and subsidies to cement the deal. Amazon expects staff levels to rise continuously over the next 12 years to reach the 25,000 employee mark by 2030.
 
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