It’s Official: Amazon Announces HQ2 Winners

Rendering of proposed Amazon campus in Arlington, Va. (Image courtesy of JBG Smith)

Amazon’s year-long quest for its second North American headquarters has come to an end: New York City and Arlington, Va., will be the company’s new locations for the $5 billion project, which will create more than 50,000 jobs. The e-commerce giant has also chosen Nashville for its new Operations Center of Excellence, which will be responsible for the company’s customer fulfillment, transportation and supply chain, and will employ more than 5,000 people. Hiring at all three locations will begin in 2019.

“We are excited to build new headquarters in New York City and Northern Virginia,” said Jeff Bezos, founder & CEO of Amazon. “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.”

As rumored, the company selected the burgeoning Queens neighborhood of Long Island City, along with the National Landing urban community in metro Washington, D.C. The new locations will join Seattle as Amazon’s three headquarters in North America. 

Jeff Bezos, founder & CEO of Amazon

Details began to emerge on Tuesday morning about Amazon’s approach to its multiple headquarters. As was widely expected, the firm’s partner for the Crystal City portion of HQ2 will be the submarket’s biggest office owner, JBG Smith. The REIT said in a statement that it will provide 500,000 square feet at three existing properties and 4.1 million square feet of new development at National Landing in Arlington, Va.

In Long Island City, Amazon will also take 1 million square feet at One Court Square, a 1.5 million-square-foot property that was occupied by Citigroup until early this year. Savanna, the tower’s owner, made the announcement in a brief statement but provided no further details.

As a result of the company’s decision, Long Island City is expected to gain more than 25,000 full-time high-paying jobs; approximately $2.5 billion in investment; 4 million square feet of energy-efficient office space with an opportunity to expand to 8 million square feet; and an estimated incremental tax revenue of more than $10 billion over the next 20 years. Based on its investment and hiring goals, Amazon will receive performance-based direct incentives of more than $1.5 billion.

National Landing, which is situated less than 3 miles from downtown Washington, D.C., will also benefit from more than 25,000 full-time high-paying jobs; along with an investment of approximately $2.5 billion; 4 million square feet of energy-efficient office space with the opportunity to expand to 8 million square feet; and an estimated incremental tax revenue of $3.2 billion over the next 20 years. And if it meets its job creation and investment goals, Amazon will receive performance-based direct incentives of $573 million.

Nashville will gain $230 million in investment; 1 million square feet of energy-efficient office space; and an estimated incremental tax revenue of more than $1 billion over the next 10 years, along with the new payrolls. In exchange for creating 5,000 jobs with an average wage of more than $150,000 over the next seven years, Amazon will receive performance-based direct incentives of up to $102 million.

Stay tuned to commercialsearch.com/news for further updates!

Image of Jeff Bezos courtesy of Amazon