Clearly, business behemoth Amazon is a bit enamored with New York City, with the commercial colossus already having a strong and well-demonstrated presence across the metropolitan area.
And the giant Internet-based retailer’s already existing presence will reportedly be materially augmented soon by its recently announced plan to lease a whopping 360,000 square feet of office space in the Manhattan West business development project. That market move will be further added to by upcoming construction of a so-called fulfillment center on Staten Island.
That means jobs, of course, and many of them.
And it is certainly jobs that NYC officials are thinking of as they are now preparing for stiff national competition among major urban areas across the country seeking to submit the winning bid in what a recent Business Insider article terms a “$5 billion headquarter’s battle.”
That boils down to this: Amazon is looking to construct a second headquarters (the company is currently housed in Seattle).
And for multiple reasons, that announcement is like a seismic shock in the business community, with Amazon executives stating that new digs would bring approximately $5 billion in company construction funding and an influx of an eye-popping 50,000 jobs.
Understandably, NYC officials want to hear the city’s name announced when it comes time to name the metro winner. Bids are due to Amazon later this month.
Evidence of the city’s Amazon fixation is amply reflected in the roughly 23 neighborhood bids that the NYC Economic Development Corporation has reportedly received.
Officials are hopeful, with Deputy Mayor Alicia Glen stating that no other city “has the space, the ingenuity or the energy that we can offer Amazon.”