Amazon HQ2: all of the news about its controversial search for a new headquarters – The Verge

Amazon HQ2 defeat is a win for Queens activists but a ‘facepalm’ for tech leaders

2019-02-14T15:59:49-05:00

Amazon's decision to drop plans for a New York City headquarters was so abrupt that its own employees had been meeting with local leaders just hours earlier to move the commitment forward. Now that the deal is off, New York tech leaders are trying to figure out what it means for the city's tech scene.

The decision to leave New York has been disappointing for local tech leaders like Julie Samuels, who runs Tech:NYC, a nonprofit that helps grow tech companies in the city. "This is terrible for New York. You're talking about tens of thousands of jobs that were going to be in New York City that now aren't," Samuels says.

"Nobody checked in with …

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Amazon cancels HQ2 in New York after backlash

2019-02-14T11:54:22-05:00

Amazon has canceled plans to build a second headquarters in New York City, following pushback from residents and local lawmakers who were concerned about what the influx of high-skill, high-paying jobs would do to an area that's already facing fast gentrification.

"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," Amazon wrote in a statement this morning. Amazon said it is canceling the plans because a "number of state and local politicians have made it clear that they oppose our presence."

Amazon does not plan to search for another HQ2 loc …

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Amazon reportedly reconsidering New York headquarters after widespread backlash

2019-02-08T12:58:12-05:00

Amazon's proposed 25,000-employee office in Queens, New York, may not go forward after all, according to a report from The Washington Post. Citing local opposition from activist groups and politicians, two sources tell the Post that the company is reexamining the deal and mulling over whether to move its planned second headquarters elsewhere. Amazon has not yet leased or purchased office space in the Long Island City area where it's scheduled to expand upon an existing satellite office, which may make the matter a little easier.

Additionally, in Virginia, where Amazon announced its other 25,000-employee expansion in the Crystal City suburb …

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Virginia governor signs bill paving way for Amazon’s HQ2

2019-02-06T15:02:52-05:00

On Tuesday, embattled Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam signed a bill that paves the way for the state to eventually provide up to $750 million in cash incentives for Amazon to build its new headquarters in the northernmost part of the state.

The deal, which was announced last November, would split up the new Amazon headquarters between Virginia and New York City. State governments from all over the country sought to make this deal which promised to bring thousands of "high-paying" jobs to the area. In the case of Virginia, that's nearly 40,000 over several years.

"We are excited for what the future holds"

No public ceremony was held to celebrate …

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For Queens residents, Amazon’s HQ2 isn’t arriving without a fight

2018-11-20T10:45:06-05:00

Syed Rahman is caught in the middle. The Vanderbilt University sophomore from Long Island City, Queens, has long dreamed of a job in the tech industry, but the public housing projects in his neighborhood convinced him that the only way to make it is to find a job in the so-called "Silicon Alleys" of Manhattan.

That was until Amazon announced plans to build one of its HQ2 corporate campuses in his hometown just five blocks from the Queensbridge Houses near where he grew up. According to city agreements, the office, located along the Anable Basin, could reach up to 8 million square feet in the most ambitious scenarios, which is roughly the ca …

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New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand says Amazon shouldn’t be receiving tax breaks for HQ2

2018-11-14T19:06:06-05:00

The latest high-profile public figure to criticize the deal New York made with Amazon to bring half of the company's new headquarters to Long Island City, Queens is none other than New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand. Announced on Tuesday, Amazon ended a months-long search for a second headquarters by choosing to expand two existing satellite offices in New York City and Arlington, Virginia, disappointing the hundreds of cities and regions in the US that vied to secure the promised 50,000 jobs and the income tax and infrastructure spending it could bring with it.

Alongside fellow New York Sen. Chuck Schumer, Gillibrand was silent all yesterday …

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Politicians and protestors are looking for ways to stop Amazon’s New York HQ2

2018-11-14T16:22:36-05:00

When New York's governor and New York City's mayor appeared alongside an Amazon executive yesterday to announce Amazon's HQ2 setting up shop in the city, the mood was celebratory. But some locals are pushing back and considering what would need to happen to scuttle the deal.

Amazon's decision to build a new facility in Long Island City, Queens, as well as in Northern Virginia, has been met with stiff resistance. Two local politicians, State Sen. Michael Gianaris and City Council Member Jimmy Van Bramer, have said an "unprecedented amounts of tax dollars" will be going to Amazon through tax incentive offers.

"Too much is at stake to accept t …

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New York senators ominously quiet after Amazon deal

2018-11-14T10:27:08-05:00

After months of speculation, Amazon announced yesterday that it will divvy up its second headquarters between New York City and Northern Virginia. Strangely, both New York senators have been silent on the deal.

Just moments after the announcement, Virginia Sens. Mark Warner and Tim Kaine blasted off statements welcoming the HQ2 headquarters to their state, touting the economic activity it would bring. "As a former Governor, now Senator, but also as a former technology executive, I'm really excited about the potential Amazon offers not only to Northern Virginia but the whole capital region and the entire Commonwealth," Sen. Warner said.

"I' …

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Amazon’s HQ2 stunt could come back to haunt it

2018-11-14T06:00:03-05:00

There was always something distasteful about Amazon's quest to find a home for its HQ2. Even when it seemed like it might be a fair fight, it was depressing to watch so many cities and towns prostrating themselves before a tech giant in hopes they would score a windfall of jobs and infrastructure investments. Today, after a nationwide search, the entire stunt was revealed to be a kind of ruse - Amazon's singular HQ2 turned out to be a pair of regional offices, and they would be located in two thriving metropolitan areas with strategic significance to Amazon and no dearth of high-paying jobs to start with.

I rarely write about Amazon here, b …

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How Amazon landed up to $2 billion in subsidies for its new headquarters

2018-11-13T12:43:58-05:00

Amazon has just announced the sites for its HQ2. Soon, the company will be expanding into Long Island City, Queens, and Crystal City, in Arlington, Virginia. The expansion, the retail giant says, will bring 25,000 employees to each of the areas, and the company said it would invest $5 billion in the offices. Already, the announcement is raising questions about what the deal will mean for the cities, the scope of the agreement, and how Amazon conducted the search in the first place. With more than $2 billion in potential subsidies available across the three sites, the secretive and dramatic search seems to have paid off.

The incentives the c …

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