Message to Queens landlords and residential property developers: Keep building, and quicken the pace. Amazon is coming.
It seemed akin to something like Powerball or a giant sweepstakes contest. And it went on for 14 long months of what one national media report calls “intense jockeying by more than 230 cities vying to take home the glittering prize.”
That award – although not unanimously deemed as such – was ultimately bestowed on two urban metros. Northern Virginia and New York City were chosen earlier this week by tech giant Amazon as the dual locales for the globe’s largest online retailer’s new co-headquarters.
It’s a big deal, obviously, regardless of both for-and-against views that are being expressed. A wide range of opinions have certainly surfaced in New York City, with some commentators lauding the outcome and others being a bit more cautious and circumspect.
The nation’s largest metro was reportedly attractive to Amazon from the start, for a number of reasons that similarly resonate with other business entrepreneurs and company owners. The area commands a wealth of tech talent and highly educated workers that simply can’t be found elsewhere. The metro is a cultural/social magnet for young professionals with upside aspirations. Financial institutions closely linked with business opportunity and success are everywhere.
Notwithstanding the clear benefits that will certainly accrue for the metro resulting from Amazon’s new and huge presence, though, some people are raising concerns from a cost-benefit perspective. City officials had to lure Amazon in with tax incentives and other corporate baubles, which raises the question whether too high a price is being paid for the company’s commanding presence.
Time will tell on that, of course, although most New Yorkers would likely consider the outcome a win scenario for the metro, given that NYC prevailed in a contest featuring hundreds of other competitors vying for selection.
