- Amazon has canceled its plans to build part of its second headquarters in Long Island City, Queens, leaving Northern Virginia as the sole HQ2 site.
- The company intends to carve out a new neighborhood called National Landing, which consists of urban districts in Arlington and Alexandria.
- The National Landing headquarters will stretch 4.1 million square feet, with the goal of accommodating 25,000 new employees.
On Thursday, Amazon reversed its decision to split its second headquarters (known as HQ2) between Northern Virginia and Queens.
"After much thought and deliberation, we’ve decided not to move forward with our plans to build a headquarters for Amazon in Long Island City, Queens," the company said in a statement.
Amazon also said that the company will not seek a replacement location for the Long Island City headquarters, but will continue with its planned community in Northern Virginia.
The name of that site, National Landing, confounded locals when it was announced in November 2018.
"Amazon is so stupid rich [and] powerful they literally just rebranded an entire city," one writer tweeted.
According to the official page for Northern Virginia’s HQ2 bid, National Landing consists of three "connected urban districts": two in Arlington (Crystal City and Pentagon City) and one in Alexandria (Potomac Yard).
It’s essentially a new neighborhood carved out by Amazon, though many of the details remain unclear.
Much of the property in the area is currently held by local developer JBG Smith, which has given Amazon exclusive rights to purchase some of its land and lease space in several of its buildings. As development commences on what’s now Amazon’s sole new headquarters, the company plans to rent out 500,000 square feet of office space for incoming employees.
JBG Smith has kick-started many of its unfinished projects in the wake of Amazon’s initial decision, including a shopping and entertainment district with a 49,000-square-foot theater.
Here’s what National Landing could eventually look like.
Amazon’s National Landing headquarters will stretch 4.1 million square feet, with the goal of accommodating 25,000 new employees.
JBG SMITH
The new headquarters will likely be located at Pen Place, a development site in Pentagon City.
JBG SMITH
One of the centerpieces of National Landing will be a 130,000-square-foot shopping and entertainment space known as Central District Retail.
JBG SMITH
See the rest of the story at Business Insider
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Source: Business Insider – feedback@businessinsider.com (Aria Bendix)