Amazon pulls out of planned New York City headquarters
Critics opposed $3B in incentives to lure tech giant.
Amazon on Thursday canceled its plans to build an expansive corporate campus in New York City after facing an unexpectedly fierce backlash from some lawmakers and unions, who contended that a tech giant did not deserve nearly $3 billion in government incentives.
The company, as part of its extensive search for a new headquarters, had chosen Long Island City, Queens, as one of two winning sites, saying that it would create more than 25,000 jobs in the city.
But the agreement to lure Amazon stirred an intense debate about the use of government incentives to entice wealthy companies, the rising cost of living in rapidly gentrifying neighborhoods, and the city’s very identity.
Amazon’s decision is a major blow for Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio, who had set aside their differences to bring the company to New York.
But it was a remarkable win for insurgent progressive politicians led by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, whose upset victory last year happened to occur in the district where Amazon had planned its site. Her win galvanized the party’s left flank, which mobilized against the deal.
As recently as Wednesday, the governor had brokered a meeting between Amazon executives and the union leaders who had been resistant to the deal, according to two people briefed on the sitdown. The meeting ended without any compromise on the part of Amazon, according to the people.
In recent days, backers had begun mobilizing and felt encouraged by polls showing broad-based support for the company. Some could be seen wearing pins in support of Amazon. But those efforts did not sway many critics, who opposed the company for its anti-union practices and for the changes they feared it would bring to Queens.
State Sen. Michael Gianaris, a vocal critic who was chosen for a state board with the power to veto the deal, said the decision revealed Amazon’s unwillingness to work with the Queens community it had wanted to join.
“Like a petulant child, Amazon insists on getting its way or takes its ball and leaves,” said Gianaris, a Democrat, whose district includes Long Island City. “The only thing that happened here is that a community that was going to be profoundly affected by their presence started asking questions.”
“Even by their own words,” he added, pointing to the company’s statement on the pullout, “Amazon admits they will grow their presence in New York without their promised subsidies. So what was all this really about?”
To attract Amazon, city and state officials offered the company one of the largest-ever incentive packages in exchange for a much larger return in jobs and tax revenue.
They agreed to remake plans for the Queens waterfront and move a distribution center for school lunches. They even agreed to give Jeff Bezos, Amazon’s chief executive, access to a helicopter pad.
Under the plan, within 15 years the company could occupy as much as 8 million square feet of office space, including office buildings for as many as 40,000 workers.
But almost as soon as it was announced, the deal was met with resistance, from local elected officials like Gianaris and progressive groups that held rallies and petitioned in Queens against the deal.
Many critics were angered that the deal-making circumvented the normal land-use process and essentially eliminated any veto power by the City Council.
The idea of scaling back plans for the New York campus was a subject that had become increasingly discussed among Amazon’s board, according to a person familiar with the board’s deliberations. The meetings between Amazon and Cuomo and de Blasio before the company decided to come to New York led executives to believe that there would be greater political support than turned out to be the case.