NEW YORK CITY—A day after its neighbor to the north announced its intent to enter the sweepstakes for Amazon's second US headquarters, New York City officials said the city will submit a proposal of its own that could involve a host of properties in all five boroughs.
City officials reported today that the city has thus far received more than two-dozen proposals for possible locations for Amazon's second headquarters—referred to as Amazon HQ2. Collectively, the proposals total more than 50 million square feet of commercial space across 23 different neighborhoods in all five boroughs, city officials note. The Amazon requirement would involve a total of about $5 billion in investment and 50,000 new jobs to the city if its bid were successful.
The proposals were submitted in response to a Request for Expressions of Interest published by the New York City Economic Development Corp. on Sept. 15, which sought to identify privately controlled sites that could complement a number of publicly-owned properties as potential locations for Amazon's second headquarters. Seattle-based Amazon earlier this month issued a Request for Proposals for cities that could provide sites that could provide Amazon at least 500,000 square feet of commercial space by 2019 and up to 8 million square feet beyond 2027.
“We've gotten strong responses from all five boroughs,” says New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio. “There's no question New York City will make a powerful case to bring these jobs here.”
“From the moment Amazon released its request for proposals, New York's real estate, business, and community leaders have worked together to best position the city to win the company's second headquarters,” Deputy Mayor Alicia Glen said. “Thanks to this collaborative effort, we now see the tremendous potential we have for development sites. No other city in North America has the space, the ingenuity, or the energy that we can offer Amazon.”
“We know New York is the only city that can immediately meet Amazon's needs for 50,000 of the most talented workers in the world,” said New York City Economic Development Corp. president and CEO James Patchett. “Now we know that New York can choose from dozens of potential headquarters sites with over 50 million square feet of office space to make the strongest possible bid. We continue to separate ourselves from the competition and demonstrate that we are the clear choice for Amazon's second headquarters.”
More than 40 organizations and developers contributed to responses, reflecting at least 50 individual sites located in every borough, with many proposals containing multiple site options, city officials state.
City officials say that each proposal will be reviewed over the coming days and that the city's efforts are being closely coordinating with the State of New York. The city will present its proposal to Amazon by October 19.
Yesterday, Westchester County announced its intention to submit a proposal for the Amazon HQ2 and listed a number of possible sites, including vacant former properties of IBM and PepsiCo in Somers totaling more than 1.5 million square feet. Among the county's chief attributes it will promote in its proposal to Amazon is its cheaper office space as compared to New York City.
Want to continue reading?
Become a Free ALM Digital Reader.
Once you are an ALM Digital Member, you’ll receive:
- Breaking commercial real estate news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
- Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
- Critical coverage of the property casualty insurance and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, PropertyCasualty360 and ThinkAdvisor
Already have an account? Sign In Now
*May exclude premium content© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
John Jordan
John Jordan is a veteran journalist with 36 years of print and digital media experience.
