FILE PHOTO – The Citibank building, the site of a new workplace for Amazon employees, is seen in Long Island City of the Queens borough of New York, U.S., November 14, 2018. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Amazon.com is reconsidering locating part of its new headquarters in New York because of local opposition, the Washington Post reported on Friday, citing two people familiar with the global retailer’s thinking.
The retailing giant had not yet purchased or leased any land for the project there, which would make it easy to leave, the unnamed individuals told the Post, which is owned by Amazon’s Chief Executive Jeff Bezos.
Amazon did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
Amazon said in November it would branch out from its home base in Seattle with plans to create more than 25,000 jobs in both New York City and an area just outside Washington, D.C.
The world’s largest online retailer plans to spend $5 billion on the two new developments in Long Island City, in New York’s Queens borough, and in Arlington, Virginia, and expects to get more than $2 billion in tax credits and incentives with plans to apply for more.
Amazon has mailed flyers to Queens residents, touting the economic and jobs benefits of its New York expansion, trying to blunt opposition from some local lawmakers who said Amazon received too many tax and other benefits.
A critic of the plan, Queens state Senator Michael Gianaris, was appointed to a panel charged with approving the new Amazon campus, and has the power to block the plan, local media including the New York Times have reported. New York governor Andrew Cuomo supports Amazon’s plan.
Reporting by Susan Heavey; writing by Nick Zieminski; Editing by Susan Thomas