Faced with determined political and local opposition, dominant online retailer backs off plan to set up in Long Island City

Activists and some politicians cheered Amazon's announcement Wednesday to cancel plans to build a second corporate headquarters in New York City, but others said the decision will kill 25,000 new jobs and make it difficult for the city to attract major companies in the future.

"After much thought and deliberation, we've decided not to move forward with our plans to build a headquarters for Amazon in Long Island City, Queens," the company said in a statement. "For Amazon, the commitment to build a new headquarters requires positive, collaborative relationships with state and local elected officials who will be supportive over the long term."

The company said it will not look for another site for a second corporate headquarters to complement its Seattle home base: "We will proceed as planned in Northern Virginia and Nashville (Tennessee), and we will continue to hire and grow across our 17 corporate offices and tech hubs in the US and Canada."

City and state officials had pledged nearly $3 billion in incentives to attract Amazon and said its planned development would have generated an estimated $27.5 billion in tax revenue over the next 25 years. The company said that the project would create more than 25,000 jobs in the city.

But the agreement stirred intense local debate about using tax incentives to entice one of the nation's richest companies and concern among residents about a rise in the cost of living and the impact on transportation and schools.

"We gave Amazon the opportunity to be a good neighbor and do business in the greatest city in the world," New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said in a statement. "Instead of working with the community, Amazon threw away that opportunity."

After the announcement on Thursday, Governor Andrew Cuomo said in a statement that "the New York State Senate has done tremendous damage. They should be held accountable for this lost economic opportunity.

"A small group of politicians put their own narrow political interests above their community — which poll after poll showed overwhelmingly supported bringing Amazon to Long Island City — the state's economic future and the best interests of the people of this state," Cuomo said.

Cuomo once joked that he would change his name to "Amazon Cuomo" to attract the company to New York. He said Amazon would help diversify the city's economy, expanding its base beyond Wall Street and corporate finance. Amazon would have joined Google and Facebook with a major presence in the city.

A poll released on Tuesday by Siena College showed that 56 percent of voters supported the deal statewide, while 36 percent opposed it.

New York state Senator Michael Gianaris, a Queens Democrat, opposed Amazon's non-union workforce and said new Amazon employees would push many current residents with limited income out of the area.

"Today's behavior by Amazon shows why they would have been a bad partner for New York in any event," Gianaris said in a statement. "Amazon continued its effort to shake down governments to get its way.."

Many new high-rise apartment buildings have been built along the Queens riverfront, boosting the median price sale price of an apartment in the neighborhood to $992,500.

Lauren Bennett, a real estate agent and a Long Island City resident, said many prospective buyers were considering the area because of Amazon.

"Overnight, the entire market just drastically shifted," she said when Amazon said it was coming.

"By saying no to Amazon, New York City is essentially saying no to any company that would consider coming to the city to do business," said Eric Benaim, a real estate agent in Queens who circulated a petition urging residents to support the project.

"In the past few months, it was hard to get an appointment from the building developers and estate agents, but in the recent weeks, they started to reach out and give some extra concessions — it shows that the home-buying frenzy has slowed down," said Nayi Shen Janssen, sales director at a local retail estate company, Hooli Homes New York.

Most of Janssen's clients are Asian, she told China Daily, with a vast majority from Chinese mainland. Some had purchased their first home to live in, while others were investing.

"I thought about the potential growth of my apartment when I bought it," said Youzi Shi, who purchased a one-bedroom condo four months ago for her own use.

The value of her apartment increased $100,000 to $800,000 within a week after the Amazon announcement, Shi told China Daily.

Tian Yu, 26, a student at Pace University who rents an apartment locally, said that after Amazon announced its reconsideration, the management company sent an email encouraging residents to sign a petition persuading the company to stick to its plan.

Yu, however, said that she was not so impressed about Amazon being in the neighborhood.

"Frankly, I don't really want Amazon to be here. Think about Silicon Valley — the housing price will increase significantly because of its presence, both for rental and for sale," she said.

Judy Zhu, Kong Wenzheng and Zhang Ruinan in New York contributed to this story.

Contact the writer at scottreeves@chinadailyusa.com