Amazon Officially Announces HQ2 Will Be Split Between New York City, Northern Virginia

After more than a year of speculation and intense lobbying by every finalist city, e-commerce giant Amazon ended the suspense Tuesday, announcing it would split its new corporate headquarters between two cities on the eastern seaboard.

Along with its original headquarters in Seattle, Amazon HQ2 will live in both New York City and Arlington, Virginia.

Amazon’s initial announcement last year strongly suggested the new headquarters would be in one city. However, rumors began swirling that it would be split between two. The Wall Street Journal and Reuters both reported it would head to New York’s Long Island City neighborhood and Crystal City in Arlington before the official announcement.

Amazon says it will invest $5 billion into its new home cities and employ 25,000 workers in each. Amazon will have a three-headed corporate operation in the United States, between the two new cities and its original home of Seattle. Additionally, a new “Operations Center of Excellence” will open in Nashville, Tennessee, which will employ 5,000.

CEO Jeff Bezos said in September that Amazon would make this announcement before the end of the year and stuck to his word. However, reception from residents of the two cities has not been entirely positive. Critics have charged since Amazon announced its HQ2 plans that the new development would drive up housing costs and put strains on infrastructure wherever the new headquarters landed.

Finalist cities lobbying for Amazon’s attention tried to incentivize construction with tax breaks, which could keep New York and Arlington from getting tax revenue. Additionally, there are concerns about gentrification and rising rent prices that would come with a large influx of affluent Amazon workers.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the newly elected Democratic congressman from New York, criticized the move on Monday. Her district will include several Queens neighborhoods likely to be affected by Amazon’s Long Island City headquarters. New York City is already one of the most expensive metropolitan areas in the U.S.

However, state leadership in both New York and Virginia obviously support the move. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo joked he would change his name to “Amazon Cuomo” if the company moved to his state last week. Virginia Secretary of Commerce and Trade said the Arlington headquarters will “spur economic growth, diversify our economy, and help us grow and retain our much sought-after tech talent.”