Amazon is expected to formally announce the location of their second headquarters today according to a report by CNN. Crystal City in Arlington County will be the reported location of the split headquarters along with the Long Island City section of New York City.
Amazon, which is currently headquartered in Seattle, announced the search for a second headquarter location in 2017. The company stated the desire for a location in an area with more than 1 million residents, access to mass transit and to be near a major airport. The Crystal City neighborhood is located just south of The Pentagon, connected to the DC Metro and is adjacent to Reagan National Airport.
The new split headquarters locations are expected to create as many as 50,000 new high-skilled jobs paying an average salary of $100,000. The decision to create the new headquarters in NOVA and New York City was also based significantly on the high number of technically-skilled workers in both areas. Amazon's Seattle headquarters drew from the large pool of skilled workers with Microsoft in that area.
Although the DC area could see around 25,000 new jobs created eventually, there are concerns. The Arlington area already has some of the highest housing costs and traffic congestion on the East Coast and Amazon will undoubtedly add to these issues. There were many public offerings of incentives from cities during Amazon's selection process, though Crystal City did not publicly disclose any incentives they had offered. There is worry that Amazon could be receiving significant tax breaks and concessions for coming to Northern Virginia, money that Amazon could easily afford that could potentially draw money away from public services.
As of the time of this writing, it is unknown when construction will start or finish on the new headquarters location in Crystal City, though Amazon have stated they plan on taking "10 to 15 years" to attract the new workers.