Amazon is reportedly nearing a deal to make New York City one of the homes of its second headquarters — here's why it would be disastrous (AMZN)

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November 6, 2018 3:14 AM

Gentrification, overpopulation, and bad traffic already plague New York City. According to urbanism experts, Amazon's HQ2 would make things worse.

Amazon is reportedly planning to name Long Island City neighborhood in Queens, New York half of
HQ2 — which The New York Times reports will be split between New York and Crystal City, Virginia — will create roughly 25,000 new jobs in the area.
HQ2 sounds like a great opportunity for New York, but it could contribute to a rise in housing prices, as well as population and transportation woes.

On Monday evening, reported that Amazon was finally nearing a decision on where to place its second headquarters. After more than a year of deliberation, the e-commerce giant is reportedly nearing a deal to split HQ2 between New York City, in the Queen's neighborhood of Long Island City, and Crystal City, Virginia.

In January, soon after Amazon realized its short list of 20 finalists for HQ2, Business Insider's Leanna Garfield published a story on why New York City would be a horrible choice for Amazon's second headquarters. Here is why:

In mid-January, Amazon named New York City as one of the top 20 contenders for its second headquarters, dubbed HQ2. The campus is expected to bring 50,000 high-paying jobs to the chosen North American city, and Amazon said it will invest $5 billion in HQ2's construction.

At first glance, it sounds like a sweet deal. But if HQ2 came to New York, with its influx of tech workers, the campus could exacerbate several problems that already plague the city, including high housing prices, overpopulation, and gridlock — all things Seattle, Amazon's home, has seen since the company arrived in the late 1990s.