Amazon HQ2 Delay Isn’t a Concern, Northern Virginia Officials Say
Officials in Northern Virginia largely played down
Amazon.com Inc.’s
AMZN 3.01%
decision to pause plans for a second phase of its corporate campus in Arlington, Va., describing it as an understandable speed bump on a project already benefiting the local economy.
“It really doesn’t concern me. In fact, I’m quite understanding,” said
Christian Dorsey,
chair of the Arlington County Board, in a call with reporters. “I think that we are still going to see all of the benefits that we envisioned…It’s just going to take a little longer to realize.”
The Seattle-based company said Friday it would temporarily hold off on moving forward with the second phase of a corporate real-estate complex near Washington, D.C., that is known as
Amazon’s
AMZN 3.01%
second headquarters. Overall, the project is expected to cost Amazon about $2.5 billion through 2030 and bring more than 25,000 jobs to the region.
Under an incentive package used to attract Amazon to the region, the company over time could receive up to $750 million from Virginia if it creates enough high-paying jobs and up to $23 million from Arlington County. A new $1 billion Virginia Tech graduate campus for computer science and computer engineering, being built in nearby Alexandria, was part of the region’s winning bid for Amazon’s HQ2.
Terry Clower, director of George Mason University’s Center for Regional Analysis, which wasn’t involved in the bid to bring Amazon to Northern Virginia, said one particular strength of Virginia’s HQ2 agreement with Amazon is that it didn’t require the state or localities to provide upfront cash to Amazon. Instead the company must hit certain targets.
Specifically, Arlington County’s incentives to Amazon are tied to the company’s occupying a certain amount of office square footage and to local hotel tax revenue hitting specific levels, Mr. Dorsey said. He said Arlington County has yet to pay the company any incentives.
Nor has Virginia paid Amazon any money for job-linked incentives, though the company’s hiring is running well ahead of expected targets, said Suzanne Clark, a spokeswoman for the Virginia Economic Development Partnership, the state economic-development authority. Amazon has until April 1 to request its first payment for jobs created through 2022, putting the company on track to get its first state payment in mid-2026, she said.
Mr. Dorsey and other officials pointed to Amazon’s faster than planned hiring of 8,000 workers to date as a sign that the project is already paying dividends. They said local residents and companies would benefit from a new Metro station set to open in May and from the Virginia Tech Innovation Campus.
Virginia Tech said an 11-story academic building is on track to open in fall 2024.
“It’s still here, it’s still going to happen,” said George Mason’s Mr. Clower. He said the indefinite delay on the second phase doesn’t reduce the value of Amazon’s presence in Northern Virginia, a region that has attracted significant tech-sector employment in recent years.
Write to Scott Calvert at [email protected]
Copyright ©2022 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8
Officials in Northern Virginia largely played down
Amazon.com Inc.’s
AMZN 3.01%
decision to pause plans for a second phase of its corporate campus in Arlington, Va., describing it as an understandable speed bump on a project already benefiting the local economy.
“It really doesn’t concern me. In fact, I’m quite understanding,” said
Christian Dorsey,
chair of the Arlington County Board, in a call with reporters. “I think that we are still going to see all of the benefits that we envisioned…It’s just going to take a little longer to realize.”
The Seattle-based company said Friday it would temporarily hold off on moving forward with the second phase of a corporate real-estate complex near Washington, D.C., that is known as
Amazon’s
AMZN 3.01%
second headquarters. Overall, the project is expected to cost Amazon about $2.5 billion through 2030 and bring more than 25,000 jobs to the region.
Under an incentive package used to attract Amazon to the region, the company over time could receive up to $750 million from Virginia if it creates enough high-paying jobs and up to $23 million from Arlington County. A new $1 billion Virginia Tech graduate campus for computer science and computer engineering, being built in nearby Alexandria, was part of the region’s winning bid for Amazon’s HQ2.
Terry Clower, director of George Mason University’s Center for Regional Analysis, which wasn’t involved in the bid to bring Amazon to Northern Virginia, said one particular strength of Virginia’s HQ2 agreement with Amazon is that it didn’t require the state or localities to provide upfront cash to Amazon. Instead the company must hit certain targets.
Specifically, Arlington County’s incentives to Amazon are tied to the company’s occupying a certain amount of office square footage and to local hotel tax revenue hitting specific levels, Mr. Dorsey said. He said Arlington County has yet to pay the company any incentives.
Nor has Virginia paid Amazon any money for job-linked incentives, though the company’s hiring is running well ahead of expected targets, said Suzanne Clark, a spokeswoman for the Virginia Economic Development Partnership, the state economic-development authority. Amazon has until April 1 to request its first payment for jobs created through 2022, putting the company on track to get its first state payment in mid-2026, she said.
Mr. Dorsey and other officials pointed to Amazon’s faster than planned hiring of 8,000 workers to date as a sign that the project is already paying dividends. They said local residents and companies would benefit from a new Metro station set to open in May and from the Virginia Tech Innovation Campus.
Virginia Tech said an 11-story academic building is on track to open in fall 2024.
“It’s still here, it’s still going to happen,” said George Mason’s Mr. Clower. He said the indefinite delay on the second phase doesn’t reduce the value of Amazon’s presence in Northern Virginia, a region that has attracted significant tech-sector employment in recent years.
Write to Scott Calvert at [email protected]
Copyright ©2022 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8
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