The 500,000 square-foot facility known as HQ2 was expected to include $5 billion in private investment and create as many as 50,000 new high-paying jobs.
But now comes a dramatic plot twist.
Call it HQ2 times two.
The Wall Street Journal is reporting Amazon will evenly split its second headquarters among two cities, dividing the number of jobs between them, and one of the three finalists for the three spots is New York City.
The other two contenders are Crystal City, Virginia (across the Potomac from Washington, D.C.) and Dallas.
The driving force behind the planned split, the Journal reports, is to allow Amazon to recruit more of the best tech talent.
Amazon’s preferences are that any potential location be situated in a metropolitan area with more than one million people, have a stable business environment, offer urban or suburban locations, and the ability to retain talented professionals.
It also wants to have access to mass transit and major highways and be situated within 45 minutes of an international airport.
An announcement could come as soon as this week.
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