Amazon $5 bil co-HQ's in play

[thelakelander]

Hmm....DC, NYC, Dallas.... the rich get richer. I was kind of hoping they'd select a second tier city where they could be an economic "game changer".

[ProjectMaximus]

NYT is reporting it will be a split between Queens and Crystal City. So NYC and DC. Anticlimactic to say the least. 

https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-hq2-new-headquarters-will-be-in-queens-and-crystal-city-2018-9

[I-10east]

So what's already overpriced (cost of living) within Queens or Crystal City will become even more overpriced. Yay Amazon!!!

[copperfiend]

Trying to imagine all those additional people in Crystal City. Particularly wondering about the current Metro station.

[vicupstate]

Very indicative of what has been happening for many years now. A relatively small number of areas across the country are prospering enormously but struggling to handle the effects of that (incl. gentrification), and many vast areas in between are flat-lining or declining.

[thelakelander]

I wonder if NYC offered incentives? Their mayor was publicly against doing so last year.

[ProjectMaximus]

I wonder if NYC offered incentives? Their mayor was publicly against doing so last year.

I don't know but maybe the state is? Gov Cuomo has been over-the-top in his courtship of Amazon

[Steve]

I wonder if NYC offered incentives? Their mayor was publicly against doing so last year.

I don't know but maybe the state is? Gov Cuomo has been over-the-top in his courtship of Amazon

There's no way Cuomo didn't offer incentives. The state is known for giving them out a good bit for jobs - the city, not as much. He's (half-jokingly) offered to change his name and the name of the river to Amazon if it would help.

[JaxJersey-licious]

I wonder if NYC offered incentives? Their mayor was publicly against doing so last year.

I don't know if any incentives specifically for Amazon would be coming their way from the administration but it would be the linchpin for the construction of the long discussed and debated Queens-Brooklyn streetcar line for the increasingly popular yet under-served by mass transit riverfront neighborhoods of the area. Even if they get Amazon to pony up their share of the cost, this has become an increasingly costly public works project that without Amazon's presence would have a hard time ever seeing the light of day.

In the end, I'm pretty sure the city and state's total investments in infrastructure, subway, and possible LIRR improvements would rival any open "incentives" offered by any other regions.

[Captain Zissou]

I'm interested to see what their Crystal City footprint will be.  That area is poorly laid out, but pretty dense already

[thelakelander]

In the end, I'm pretty sure the city and state's total investments in infrastructure, subway, and possible LIRR improvements would rival any open "incentives" offered by any other regions.

Even New Jersey's $7 billion to be on the other side of the Hudson?

[Steve]

I wonder if NYC offered incentives? Their mayor was publicly against doing so last year.

I don't know if any incentives specifically for Amazon would be coming their way from the administration but it would be the linchpin for the construction of the long discussed and debated Queens-Brooklyn streetcar line for the increasingly popular yet under-served by mass transit riverfront neighborhoods of the area. Even if they get Amazon to pony up their share of the cost, this has become an increasingly costly public works project that without Amazon's presence would have a hard time ever seeing the light of day.

In the end, I'm pretty sure the city and state's total investments in infrastructure, subway, and possible LIRR improvements would rival any open "incentives" offered by any other regions.

To that point, MTA (buses, subway, LIRR, most bridges and tunnels, etc) is a State Agency. I bet outside of some sidewalks, roads, etc., the City of New Your may not have to invest a ton.

[JaxJersey-licious]

I wonder if NYC offered incentives? Their mayor was publicly against doing so last year.

I don't know if any incentives specifically for Amazon would be coming their way from the administration but it would be the linchpin for the construction of the long discussed and debated Queens-Brooklyn streetcar line for the increasingly popular yet under-served by mass transit riverfront neighborhoods of the area. Even if they get Amazon to pony up their share of the cost, this has become an increasingly costly public works project that without Amazon's presence would have a hard time ever seeing the light of day.

In the end, I'm pretty sure the city and state's total investments in infrastructure, subway, and possible LIRR improvements would rival any open "incentives" offered by any other regions.

To that point, MTA (buses, subway, LIRR, most bridges and tunnels, etc) is a State Agency. I bet outside of some sidewalks, roads, etc., the City of New Your may not have to invest a ton.

The rub on New York City's limited investment scenario is the potential site for Amazon HQ2 is the conversion of the Sunnyside Yard rail from train storage to commercial and residential development. To get an idea of what kind of investment the city would need to put up for this project look at the Hudson Yards project where they city invested hundreds of millions of dollars converting those old rail yards. They even extended the 7 subway line which itself comes to over 2 billion dollars a mile.

And if they were to build new construction elsewhere in the area keep in mind much of Long Island City was basically a huge version of Parking Lot J with a lot of old heavily polluting manufacturers that would require some form of remediation Amazon would nudge the city to commit too in some way.

[JaxJersey-licious]

Best news of the day!

https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/ny-metro-amazon-cancels-new-york-20190214-story.html

[thelakelander]

So who was the next runner up?