The time has come. And Austinites can either let out a sigh of relief -- or grind a few gears -- because Austin isn't Amazon's pick for HQ2. Or HQ3, for that matter.
Amazon announced on Tuesday that it has selected Northern Virginia’s Crystal City and New York City's Long Island City for its second headquarters locations.
The move essentially gives Amazon three headquarters. The e-commerce giant also announced it picked Nashville for a new "Center of Excellence" for its operations business -- a move that will bring 5,000 new jobs to Tennesee.
Amazon says its new offices in New York and Arlington will bring a combined $5 billion in construction investments and as many as 50,000 high-paying jobs to the two metros. There will be about 25,000 new jobs in each location. Hiring will begin in 2019.
Asked why it picked two locations, Amazon said: "We can recruit more top talent by being in two locations."
The e-commerce giant had narrowed the pool of 238 candidates across North America to a list of 20 cities in the U.S. and Canada in January. Austin emerged as one of the final 20, and it was favored among a few speculators. But, ultimately, it didn't land the huge development, which had promised jobs and growing pains along with it.
Amazon’s headquarters in Seattle includes 33 buildings comprising 8.1 million square feet. It has paid its 40,000-plus employees there a combined $26 billion and spent $1.4 billion on utilities and maintenance alone.
The company’s presence there has fueled office construction and spurred jobs in sectors serving its high-paid employees, but rapid growth has been met with rising home prices, higher rents and traffic congestion.
On the other hand, Amazon reports that 233,000 annual hotel nights are bought in Seattle by visiting Amazonians and guests, and that it paid $43 million into the city’s public transportation system as employees’ transportation benefit.
Stay tuned to DC Inno for more news on Amazon’s HQ2 decision.
Austin Inno's Brent Wistrom contributed to this report.
