Photo Courtesy of the Office of the Governor/Kevin P. Coughlin
In 2019, Amazon will occupy up to 500,000 square-feet at 1 Court Square while working to construct four million square-feet of commercial space on Long Island City’s waterfront over the next 10 years.
By Michael V. Cusenza
You might have noticed a distinct orange hue glowing from several esteemed buildings on Tuesday night in NYC.
(Some) of the city is celebrating: Following a comprehensive, year-long selection process, Amazon, the world leader in e-commerce and cloud computing, will establish a new corporate headquarters in Long Island City, the tech behemoth and Mayor Bill de Blasio and Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced earlier on Tuesday.
Thus, iconic City edifices, such as the Empire State Building and One World Trade Center, were triumphantly lit in “Amazon Orange.”
According to the City Economic Development Corporation, in 2019, Amazon will occupy up to 500,000 square-feet at 1 Court Square while working to construct four million square-feet of commercial space on Long Island City’s waterfront over the next 10 years, with expansion opportunities for up to 8 million square-feet over the next 15 years. Through a $3.6 billion total investment, Amazon will draw from the workforce in New York to fill at least 25,000 new jobs by 2029 and up to 40,000 jobs by 2034 with an average annual salary of $150,000. The construction is expected to create an average of 1,300 direct construction jobs annually through 2033. Overall, the project is estimated to create more than 107,000 total direct and indirect jobs and more than $14 billion in new tax revenue for the State and a net of $13.5 billion in City tax revenue. The project provides a 9:1 return on investment.
The City-State agreement with Amazon includes commitments to build a jointly-funded 10,000 square-foot onsite employment center to connect local residents with jobs and training. A $15 million investment will expand the JobsPlus program to Queensbridge Houses and expand tuition-free tech training to its residents.
The agreement also secures a new approximately 600-seat intermediate public school, a 3.5-acre waterfront esplanade and park, and the establishment of an LIC Infrastructure Fund to invest 50 percent of the project’s payment-in-lieu-of-taxes proceeds to deliver on transportation and other neighborhood priorities that will be identified in collaboration with the local community.
To bring the project to New York, the State offered Amazon a package of incentives totaling $1.705 billion, including $1.2 billion in tax credits through the Excelsior Jobs Program, which is directly tied to Amazon’s commitment to create 25,000 new jobs and no less than $2.3 billion investment over 10 years; as well as a $505 million capital grant that is directly tied to Amazon’s commitment to invest $3.6 billion and create up to 40,000 new jobs over 15 years.
However, the mammoth, multi-billion dollar deal seems to have garnered just as many skeptics and outright opponents as supporters.
“Offering massive corporate welfare from scarce public resources to one of the wealthiest corporations in the world at a time of great need in our state is just wrong,” State Sen. Michael Gianaris (D-Astoria) and City Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer (D-Sunnyside) wrote in a joint statement they issued prior to leading a large rally on Wednesday morning at 44th Drive and Vernon Boulevard.
Gianaris, Van Bramer, and other opponents argue that LIC, as it’s presently constituted, couldn’t possibly sustain such a project.
“We cannot support a giveaway of this magnitude, a process that circumvents community review through the use of a [general project plan] or the inevitable stress on the infrastructure of a community already stretched to its limits,” Gianaris and Van Bramer said.
