The tech retail giant has announced more details about the second headquarters spot that many localities were vying for: The so-called second headquarters will now be two new headquarters in New York City and Arlington, Virginia. Amazon will also open an operations center in Tennessee. The Virginia location will actually be a city-within-a-city called National Landing.
The renaming is only one of the many deals Amazon has struck with the localities. The Washington Post calculates that state and municipal governments are forking over $2.8 billion in incentives in order to be graced by Amazon’s expansion plans.
“New York was the most generous among the winners, promising more than $1.85 billion for Amazon to build one of its two new headquarters in Long Island City in the borough of Queens, according to the Amazon announcement,” The Washington Post notes. “Virginia appeared to have made a better deal, as it offered incentives of $819 million to place the other new headquarters in Arlington in Northern Virginia, according to the announcement.”
Virginia also seems to have agreed to other sweetheart deals, including clearing the way for the building of a helicopter landing pad and also providing advance notice about Freedom of Information Act requests affecting Amazon:
Under agreement between Amazon and Virginia, the commonwealth will give the company written notice about any FOIA requests "to allow the
— Benjamin Freed (@brfreed) November 13, 2018
Company to seek a protective order or other appropriate remedy" pic.twitter.com/BkVXdnoX2M
Virginia Governor Ralph Northam, a Democrat, hailed the deal as “a new model of economic development for the 21st century.”
Fellow Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, newly elected to Congress, was less impressed:
Amazon is a billion-dollar company. The idea that it will receive hundreds of millions of dollars in tax breaks at a time when our subway is crumbling and our communities need MORE investment, not less, is extremely concerning to residents here.
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@Ocasio2018) November 13, 2018