Amazon Confirms $5 Billion Investment in New York City, Virginia HQ2 Locations [VIDEO]

Seattle-based e-commerce giant Amazon, confirmed Tuesday its selection of a second headquarters in two locations including New York City and Virginia. The New York City headquarters will be located in Long Island City, across the Queensboro bridge and a short subway ride from Manhattan. In addition to Amazon;s announcement about the new #HQ2, the company also confirmed it will invest $5 Billion and 50,000 jobs, split between both locations.

“We are excited to build new headquarters in New York City and Northern Virginia,” Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon said. “These two locations will allow us to attract world-class talent that will help us to continue inventing for customers for years to come. The team did a great job selecting these sites, and we look forward to becoming an even bigger part of these communities.”

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio expressed his thoughts on New York City becoming a new location for amazon in a statement via Twitter.

“New York City is about to get tens of thousands of new, good paying jobs and Amazon is about to meet the most talented work force in the world in one of the most diverse places on the planet. Welcome to Queens,” Mayor de Blasio said.

Amazon’s welcome to the New York City area includes incentives and tax credits. The company announced it will receive performance-based direct incentives of an estimated $1.5 billion based on the company creating 25,000 jobs in Long Island City. This includes a refundable tax credit through New York State’s Excelsior Program of up to $1.2 billion calculated as a percentage of the salaries Amazon expects to pay employees over the next 10 years, which equates to $48,000 per job for 25,000 jobs with an average wage of over $150,000; and a cash grant from Empire State Development of $325 million based on the square footage of buildings occupied in the next 10 years.

New York City is about to get tens of thousands of new, good paying jobs and Amazon is about to meet the most talented work force in the world in one of the most diverse places on the planet. Welcome to Queens, #HQ2.

— Mayor Bill de Blasio (@NYCMayor) November 13, 2018