Amazon confirms New York City and Northern Virginia for new $2.5 billion corporate headquarters

Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos

The announcement will see Amazon invest $5 billion to create two headquarters in the two locations, which is set to create more than 50,000 jobs, with more than 25,000 employees each in New York City and Arlington, North Virginia. Confirming earlier reports on the selections, the two new headquarters will join the existing headquarters in Seattle, with the retailer using all three for its corporate work.

Crystal City is the more conventional name for what Amazon is calling "National Landing." Virginia as a whole has promised $550 million in direct assistance to Amazon over 15 years, with $23 million of that coming from Arlington itself.

The influx of people will cause additional strain on an already overburdened system. Virginia has also promised $195 million in transportation and infrastructure improvements to the area as well.

AppleInsider has learned that the site selected by Amazon is the same one that Virginia Governor Ralph Northam proposed to Apple, in the company's search for a second headquarters. At least two other areas in the DC metropolitan area remain, however.

New York is assisting Amazon to the tune of $1.525 billion — assuming the company creates 25,000 jobs. The inducement package offered to Amazon includes a refundable tax credit through New York's Excelsior Program of up to $1.2 billion over the next 10 years, based on what the company is expected to pay employees.

Both the Virginia and New York locations are expected to see $2.5 billion in Amazon investment.

"We are excited to build new headquarters in New York City and Northern Virginia," said Amazon CEO and founder Jeff Bezos. "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."

At the same time as announcing the two selected HQ locations, the retailer has also selected Nashville to become a new Center of Excellence for its Operations business, which handles the supply chain, customer fulfillment, and transportation. The new center will create more than 5,000 jobs from an investment of over $230 million, with the facility consisting of 1 million square feet of office space, and will create an estimated incremental tax revenue of more than $1 billion over the next decade.

In exchange for producing the center, Amazon will receive performance-based direct incentives worth up to $102 million, if it successfully creates 5,000 jobs with an average wage of over $150,000 in Nashville.

The search for a new headquarters started in September 2017, and saw 238 initial candidates applying to host the facility. The list for the potential HQ2 was narrowed down to 20 cities in January, including 19 cities in the United States and one in Canada.

Amazon made the decision to split the investment between two locations for its headquarters, due to the ability to "recruit more top talent," the company claims. New York City and Northern Virginia have strong local and regional talent, "particularly in software development and related fields," which helped Apple make the decision alongside the financial benefits.