Amazon said on Feb. 14 that it will not move forward with plans to build a headquarters in New York after rising opposition from local politicians.
The company said it will not reopen the search process “at this time. We will proceed as planned in Northern Virginia and Nashville, and we will continue to hire and grow across our 17 corporate offices and tech hubs in the U.S. and Canada.”
Amazon’s statement on canceling plans to open a headquarters in New York City https://t.co/chYQfXWIxE pic.twitter.com/3VFPC6gRcB
— The Wall Street Journal (@WSJ) February 14, 2019
The company had begun considering alternatives last week. The online retailer has not yet acquired any land for the project, which would make it easy to scrap its plans, a person briefed on the matter told Reuters on Friday.
A protest message directed at Amazon is spray painted on a wall near a construction site in the Long Island City neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York City, on January 9, 2019.(Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)Amazon had announced it would create 25,000 jobs and build one of two new headquarters based in the Long Island City neighborhood in the borough of Queens, just across the East River from Manhattan.
The proposal ran into opposition from local politicians who opposed the $2.8-billion in incentives promised to Amazon in a deal secretly negotiated by New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio.
Demonstrators gather to protest Amazon’s new location workplace in Long Island City of the Queens borough of New York, on Nov. 14, 2018. (Shannon Stapleton/Reuters)The company said, “for Amazon, the commitment to build a new headquarters requires positive, collaborative relationships with state and local elected officials who will be supportive over the long-term.”
By David Shepardson
