Amazon’s ‘HQ2’ is officially coming to New York and Virginia

Amazon announced Tuesday that it’s chosen Long Island City in Queens and Arlington, Virginia, as locations for its new headquarters — thanks to billions of dollars in incentives and unprecedented cooperation between Mayor Bill de Blasio and Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

The online retail giant, which has pledged a $5 billion investment to create 25,000 jobs at each location, will receive a combined amount of roughly $3 billion in tax credits and grants from both New York State and New York City.

The two new locations join Seattle as Amazon’s three headquarters in North America.

In New York, the company said it would receive “performance-based direct incentives” of at least $1.525 billion from the state if it creates all of the 25,000 jobs it promised.

If it creates more as many as 40,000 it would get $1.7 billion.

That 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, or $48,000 per job, based on an average wage of over $150,000.

In Virginia, however, the incentive per job was estimated at $22,000.

Amazon will separately apply for as-of-right incentives including New York City’s Industrial & Commercial Abatement Program and New York City’s Relocation and Employment Assistance Program.

Amazon is expected to receive $1.283 billion from the city programs – with $897 million coming from the REAP program and $386 million coming from ICAP, according to Cuomo.

The company is also getting a cash grant from the state Empire State Development agency of $325 million based on the square footage of buildings occupied in the next 10 years.

Hiring at the new facilities in Long Island City and Virginia’s National Landing – a re-branded name for the Crystal City neighborhood, less than three miles from downtown Washington, D.C. – will begin in 2019.

Amazon’s announcement ends a year-long bidding war among North American cities.

In explaining its decision to split its new headquarters between two locations, Amazon said, “We can recruit more top talent by being in two locations. These are fantastic cities that attract a lot of great talent.”

The Long Island City headquarters will consist of a 4 million-square-foot office space with the potential to expand up to 8 million.

It will also include a helipad either on the site or nearby.

In addition to New York and Virginia, Amazon said it would open an operations center in Nashville, Tennessee, adding 5,000 jobs more.