By Robert McCartney and Robert McCartney Senior regional correspondent covering government and politics Email Bio Follow Patricia Sullivan Patricia Sullivan Reporter covering government, politics and other regional issues in Arlington County and Alexandria Email Bio Follow May 3 at 7:00 AM Amazon said its new second headquarters in Arlington will not aggravate housing problems as much as the company has in Seattle because it will be able to plan for growth here in a way that it couldn’t in...
They spoke three days after the company posted its first job listings for the Northern Virginia headquarters and said the project was ahead of schedule, primarily because state and county officials had acted quickly to approve multimillion-dollar incentives packages. The company has leased temporary space in Crystal City and will start operations in June instead of October, as originally planned.
While the company has received a mostly welcome reception in the Washington region, there is concern that its arrival will drive up housing costs and displace low- and middle-income residents, as it has in Seattle.Carney noted that Amazon has contributed $80 million to public and private efforts to support affordable housing and prevent homelessness in Seattle. But he said it is primarily the government’s responsibility to ensure there is an adequate supply of affordable housing.
“In Virginia we’re not going to have the same experience . . . because we know where we’re headed,” Carney said. “We’re in a place as a company where we hopefully have the kind of stability and confidence in our projected growth that we can plan in a way we couldn’t in the past.” According to the 2016 American Community Survey, the metropolitan area comprising the District, Arlington and Alexandria is 46 percent non-Hispanic white, 25 percent black or African American, 15 percent Hispanic or Latino, 10 percent Asian, and 4 percent mixed-race and other.Its agreement with the state also allows for the possibility that Amazon would hire an additional 12,850 people and receive $200 million more in grants, but Carney said there are “certainly no plans” for that.
Amazon originally planned to split HQ2 with a second headquarters facility with 25,000 jobs in New York, but it pulled out of the deal because of local opposition. Those 25,000 jobs will be distributed among Amazon’s 17 technology hubs around the United States, not including Seattle proper, Carney said.
Would be nice if this was a huge success. Nice article.
‘Wow,’ thanks to Congresswoman Ocasio ‘AOC’... Amazon abandoned New York..the Socialist, Sanctuary state that needed this lucrative company the most..after the (failed) California. ‘Voters,’ remember how this Venezuelan Socialism destroys its citizens, when Nov. 2020 rolls around
Theres a thing called virtual office spaces now. Use them. I'll bet a good chunk of their employees could do their work from a home office anywhere in the country and not have to move anywhere and inflate home prices. You'd also save a bundle on office overhead.
Ha! There’s already a housing crunch in Arlington. This influx of capital and development is fuel on the fire. Good luck.
Why not use some of those Bezos billions to help fix what you broke in Seattle?
Gee thanks JeffBezos greedybastard
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