February 14, 2019
Source/amazon.com
This aerial photo shows the campus of Amazon headquarters in Seattle. The online retailing giant is looking for a place to building its second headquarters, and Philadelphia hopes to get prime consideration.
Amazon has walked back the portion of its HQ2 plans calling for the creation of corporate offices in New York City after the plan received criticism from local lawmakers, the company announced Thursday.
In November, Amazon announced it would split its plans to build a second headquarters between National Landing, Virginia, and Long Island City, Queens, in New York City. As incentive to create the Queens portion of the plan, the city had offered Amazon performance-based incentives amounting to nearly $3 billion.
In the statement, the company says it will not re-open the search for another location at this time. Philadelphia had been among the finalists for HQ2.
Here's the entire statement about Amazon about it decision not to open offices in New York City.
After much thought and deliberation, we’ve decided not to move forward with our plans to build a headquarters for Amazon in Long Island City, Queens. For Amazon, the commitment to build a new headquarters requires positive, collaborative relationships with state and local elected officials who will be supportive over the long-term. While polls show that 70% of New Yorkers support our plans and investment, a number of state and local politicians have made it clear that they oppose our presence and will not work with us to build the type of relationships that are required to go forward with the project we and many others envisioned in Long Island City.
We are disappointed to have reached this conclusion — we love New York, its incomparable dynamism, people, and culture — and particularly the community of Long Island City, where we have gotten to know so many optimistic, forward-leaning community leaders, small business owners, and residents. There are currently over 5,000 Amazon employees in Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Staten Island, and we plan to continue growing these teams.
We are deeply grateful to Governor Cuomo, Mayor de Blasio, and their staffs, who so enthusiastically and graciously invited us to build in New York City and supported us during the process. Governor Cuomo and Mayor de Blasio have worked tirelessly on behalf of New Yorkers to encourage local investment and job creation, and we can’t speak positively enough about all their efforts. The steadfast commitment and dedication that these leaders have demonstrated to the communities they represent inspired us from the very beginning and is one of the big reasons our decision was so difficult.
We do not intend to re-open the HQ2 search at this time. We will proceed as planned in Northern Virginia and Nashville, and we will continue to hire and grow across our 17 corporate offices and tech hubs in the U.S. and Canada.
Thank you again to Governor Cuomo, Mayor de Blasio, and the many other community leaders and residents who welcomed our plans and supported us along the way. We hope to have future chances to collaborate as we continue to build our presence in New York over time.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
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