Opposition has Amazon rethinking NYC site
Amazon.com is reconsidering its plan to open a campus in New York City with 25,000 jobs after encountering a wave of opposition from local politicians, according to two people familiar with the company’s thinking.
Amazon has not leased or bought office space for the project, making it easy to withdraw its commitment. Unlike in Virginia, where elected leaders quickly passed an incentive package for a separate headquarters facility, final approval from New York state is not expected until 2020.
Tennessee officials have embraced Amazon’s plans to create 5,000 jobs in Nashville, which this week approved $15.2 million in road, sewer and other improvements related to that project.
Amazon executives have had internal discussions recently to reassess the situation in New York and explore alternatives, said the two people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to speak candidly about the company’s perspective.
“The question is whether it’s worth it if the politicians in New York don’t want the project, especially with how people in Virginia and Nashville have been so welcoming,” said one person familiar with the company’s plans.
Hailed as an economic triumph when it was announced by Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio, both Democrats, the project in the Long Island City neighborhood of Queens now faces withering criticism
from some politicians and advocacy groups appalled at the prospect of giving giant subsidies to the world’s most valuable company, led by its richest man. (Amazon founder and chief executive Jeff Bezos also owns The Washington Post.)
In the past two weeks, the state Senate nominated an outspoken Amazon critic to a board where he could veto the deal. City Council members for the second time aggressively challenged company executives at a hearing where activists booed and unfurled anti-amazon banners.
Key officials, including freshman U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasiocortez, D-N.Y., whose district borders the proposed Amazon site, have rallied against the project. And opponents went door to door to warn people in Queens of looming rent hikes and displacement, much as Seattle experienced during the company’s explosive growth there.
No specific plans to abandon New York have been made. And it is possible that Amazon would try to use a threat to withdraw to put pressure on New York officials. But with a meeting of the state’s Public Authorities Control Board and a third City Council hearing expected later this month, Amazon executives might be reaching a turning point, the people said.
“I think now is the time for Amazon to make a decision because it has to start hiring,” said one person. “At some point, the project starts to fall behind.”
The resistance in New York contrasts with the warm welcome Amazon has received in Virginia, where Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam signed a bill Tuesday authorizing up to $750 million in state subsidies for the Arlington headquarters.