AMAZON HQ2 EYES VIRGINIA LOCATION

Report: Company in advanced discussions to build second headquarters in Crystal City.

Amazon.com has held advanced discussions about the possibility of opening its highly sought-after second headquarters in Crystal City, just outside Washington, D.C., including how quickly it would move employees there, which buildings it would occupy and how an announcement about the move would be made to the public, according to people close to the process.

The discussions were more detailed than those the com- pany has had regarding other locations in Northern Virginia and some other cities nationally, adding to speculation that the site in Arling- ton County is a front-run- ner to land the online retail giant’s second North American headquarters and its 50,000 jobs.

The company is so close to making its choice that Crystal City’s top real estate developer, JBG Smith, has pulled some of its buildings off the leasing market and officials in the area have discussed how to make an announcement to the public this month, following the midterm elec- tions, according to public and private-sector officials who spoke on the condi- tion of anonymity because Amazon has asked that the selection process remain confidential. The company may be having similar discussions with other finalists.

Two people close to the process said that if Crystal City were selected, Amazon was likely to move an initial group of several hundred employees into 1851 S. Bell Street or 1770 Crystal Drive, two dated office buildings that have been targeted for redevelopment but could be readied for occupancy by their owner, JBG Smith, in nine months or less. The bid also includes sites in Poto- mac Yard, in Alexandria.

“There’s a lot of activity,” one individual close to the process said. The person added that people “seem really positive, and they seem pretty confident ... What we don’t know, maybe there are two or three other sites, and they’re doing the same thing. That’s what’s scary to people around here.”

At a conference in New York on Thursday, Amazon founder and chief executive Jeffrey P. Bezos told the crowd: “Ultimately the decision will be made with intuition after gathering and studying a lot of data — for a decision like that, as far as I know, the best way to make it is you collect as much data as you can, you immerse yourself in that data but then you make the decision with your heart.”

After launching a real- ity show-like sweepstakes for a second home in late 2017, Amazon has effectively shut down disclosures about the search in the past nine months. Twenty finalist cities — many of which have spent considerable time and money pursuing the com- pany — have little informa- tion about where they stand, according to officials in four other finalist jurisdictions.

But stock market investors, online betting sites and corporate relocation experts have all declared Northern Virginia the favorite to land the so-called HQ2.

In the Washington area, the anticipation is growing as hints filter out that Amazon is in the final stages of making a decision. .

Months of waiting have not quelled concerns about the potential pressure Amazon could place on the region’s already steep housing prices, congested roads and yawning divide between its wealthy and low-income residents.

When Bezos spoke at an Economic Club of Washington event in September, more than a dozen protesters occupied the sidewalk.

Even without Amazon, the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments has estimated that the region needs to add 235,000 housing units by 2025 to keep pace with expected j ob growth. Amazon’s arrival could push the goal to around 267,000 by 2026, according to a recent analysis by the Urban Institute. Right now the region is only on pace to add about 170,000 new units by then, and the shortage threatens to exacerbate inequality.

“Whether Amazon comes or not, we have a challenge there,” said Peter Tatian, of the Urban Institute.