Amazon Follows Facebook to Expand in NYC After Earlier Pullout
Tech giant Amazon is expanding in New York after agreeing to take new office space in Manhattan. Th..
Tech giant Amazon is expanding in New York after agreeing to take new office space in Manhattan.
The multinational company has signed a new lease for a 335,000 square-foot space on Manhattans west side in the new Hudson Yards neighbourhood, The Wall Street Journal reports. The new facilities will employ more than 1,500 people.
The move represents a complete U-turn for the company, which in February announced that it had scrapped plans to open a second headquarters, dubbed “HQ2,” in New York following backlash from local politicians and activists.
At the time, a spokesperson for the company said: “While polls show that 70 percent of New Yorkers support our plans and investment, a number of state and local politicians have made it clear that they oppose our presence and will not work with us to build the type of relationships that are required to go forward with the project we and many others envisioned in Long Island City.”
Among those politicians who challenged the move was democratic socialist Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) who condemned what she claimed was an offer by New York officials to Amazon of a reported $3 billion in state and city financial incentives to encourage the move to Queens.
Ocasio-Cortez, who represents parts of Queens and the Bronx in congress, had argued that the move would also raise real estate prices to levels that local residents could not afford, forcing many of them to move.
“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,” she wrote on Twitter.
However, she was quickly criticised for incorrectly suggesting that New York City was paying Amazon $3 billion for the jobs that the company was creating.
[embedded content]
Democratic New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio pointed out that the $3 billion figure was a tax incentive that the city would provide only after Amazon had built its headquarters and created the 25,000 jobs.
“And that $3 billion that would go back in tax incentives was only after we were getting the jobs and getting the revenue,” New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said, “Theres no money.”
He and other leaders noted that the move had numerous benefits in addition to job creation, including potentially $4 billion in wages and $12 billion in economic activity.
On Friday after Read More – Source