Facing vocal opposition from local politicians and residents, Amazon is reportedly having second thoughts about its plans for an East Coast headquarters in Long Island City, Queens.
Amazon may end up deciding that its plan to split its East Coast HQ2 between NYC and Virginia isn’t worth the trouble.
Amazon is reconsidering its plans for a 25,000-employee campus in Long Island City, Queens, according to the Washington Post, which cited two unnamed officials. Amazon’s development proposal lays out plans for a 4-8 million-square-foot campus, but it has not yet leased or purchased office space for the project, which is not expected to receive final New York state approval until 2020.
Announced in November, the HQ2 locations in LIC and Crystal City, Virginia, marked the culmination of a nationwide pageant where cities across the country vied for Amazon’s favor. Amazon selected two strategic locations situated across respective rivers from the two most important hubs on the East Coast—Manhattan and Washington, D. C.
While Virginia officials have already approved Amazon’s subsidy package, things have not gone as smoothly in New York. The deal was heralded as a historic economic development investment by both Governor Andrew Cuomo and New York City Major Bill de Blasio (who usually don’t agree on much, to put it mildly.
