When public outcry compelled Amazon to pack up its plans for an expansive headquarters on Long Island and leave town in 2018, few New Yorkers expected the e-retail giant to come knocking on their city’s doors again. But now, barely ten months later, Amazon has done precisely that.
In early December of 2019, Amazon announced its intention to open a new office on the western side of Manhattan. According to reporting from the Wall Street Journal, the tech giant plans to redevelop a property on 410 Tenth Avenue in Hudson Yards that will span 335,000 square feet and employ over 1,500 employees.
Compared to the e-retailer’s initial plans, the space is humble — even tiny. The original vision for Amazon’ New York City headquarters anticipated a sprawling campus that would host thousands of workers, a tech startup incubator, and a school. Amazon expected the site to create as many as 25,000 jobs within its first decade, as well as several thousand construction and ancillary roles. Analysts projected that within 25 years, the new headquarters would have generated over $27.5 billion in revenue for the state.
In comparison, the Hudson Yards office might seem underwhelming, even anticlimactic. But the new office space does have something that the original HQ2 definitively did not — an affordable price point.
When Amazon was in the process of deciding which city would host its high-potential HQ2, New York leadership packed its bid with perks. In total, the public funds given to Amazon would have topped $3 billion, with the state compensating the e-retailer around $48,000 per job.
The expected cost was shocking at the time. Now, some reports indicate that the amount paid by the public might have been even higher. In early January of this year, the Wall Street Journal revealed that New York’s deal with Amazon would have included an additional $800 million in incentives and a promise to pay a portion of employees’ salaries.
When news of the deal spread, controversy erupted. The public pushed back against the partnership and rejected its cost, citing the price as one New Yorkers were not prepared or willing to pay. Eventually, the tide of negative public opinion pushed Amazon to withdraw from the deal, writing: “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.”
Amazon’s plans for a New York HQ2 fell apart because the city wasn’t able to pay a high price for its presence — which makes it all the more surprising that the new office is not only small, but will be built without any special incentives, tax credits, or kickbacks.
This isn’t to say that Amazon won’t receive any support from the city. In a recent article, one writer for Business Insider pointed out that commercial tenants in Hudson Yards can qualify for tax breaks that provide up to a 40 percent discount for up to 20 years. However, these perks fall far short of the billions of dollars in incentives that Amazon might have received with the original deal.
For some New Yorkers, Amazon’s decision to return so quickly despite their public rejection shows that the city’s position as a leading business center is strong enough not to require a portfolio of incentives. As economist James Parrott recently commented for the Wall Street Journal, “It’s clear the main reason Amazon wanted to be [in New York City] was the availability of a skilled tech workforce plus the synergy with related industries.”
In this way, the news of Amazon’s new office is more proof that New York is one of the country’s most promising tech hubs. New Yorkers will surely be interested in seeing how this new, humbler, and more affordable office develops.
Amazon’s new outpost is scheduled to open in 2021.
Originally published on NovelPropertyVentures.com
