Half of HQ2 heading to Northern Virginia

Published November 13, 2018 by Jessica Sabbath

It’s official.

Half of Amazon HQ2 is coming to Northern Virginia.

The company will invest about $2.5 billion and create 25,000 jobs over 12 years.

The new headquarters will be housed in National Landing, which includes portions of Pentagon City and Crystal City in Arlington and Potomac Yard in Alexandria.

Amazon will establish another headquarters location in the Long Island City neighborhood in Queens, New York. That investment also is expected to create 25,000 jobs. Also on Tuesday, Amazon announced it would establish an Operations Center of Excellence in Nashville with more than 5,000 jobs.

Virginia says the investment is expected to generate $3.2 billion in new state general fund revenues over a 20-year incentive term with Amazon. In addition to the 25,000 jobs, Virginia estimates the investment will create 22,000 permanent, direct and indirect jobs in Virginia.

Amazon is expected to begin hiring in 2019.

Northern Virginia’s proposal included four sites in Alexandria, Arlington County, Fairfax County, and Loudoun County.

National Landing, the winning location, was proposed as a joint partnership between Alexandria and Arlington. It is located less than three miles from Washington, D.C. It is served by three Metro stations and commuter rail. Reagan National Airport is within walking distance.

As part of the commonwealth’s long-term incentive agreement with Amazon for the creation of at least 25,000 jobs, Virginia will:

• Provide post-performance incentives to Amazon that will be paid annually based on job creation and wage levels, with minimum average wages of at least $150,000. Subject to General Assembly approval, the company will be eligible to receive up to $22,000 per job or up to $550 million in incentives. Additional incentives would be available if Amazon creates more than 25,000 jobs; and

• Invest up to $195 million of non-general fund money in transportation projects that will improve mobility in the region, including additional entrances to the Metro stations at Crystal City and Potomac Yard, improvements to Route 1, a connector bridge from Crystal City to Washington National Airport, and a transitway expansion supporting Pentagon City, Crystal City and Potomac Yard. Additional funding would be available if Amazon creates more than 25,000 jobs.

To support the growth of the technology sector across the commonwealth, Virginia will:

• Make performance-based investments in bachelor’s degree programs in computer science and related fields that will be distributed statewide based upon a negotiated agreement with each public university or community college that wishes to participate;

• Make performance-based investments of up to $375 million over 20 years for new master’s degree programs in computer science and related fields at George Mason’s Arlington campus and for Virginia Tech to establish a new Innovation Campus in Alexandria, both of which are subject to a one-to-one match from the universities with philanthropic funds; and

• Invest $50 million over 20 years in K-12 tech education and internship programming to connect higher ed students to tech jobs.

This story will be updated throughout the day.