[NYguy]

Not official announcement, but the politicians are grandstanding at the gate...


https://www.crainsnewyork.com/real-e...mazon-hq2-deal

Queens pols decry Amazon HQ2 deal
Local reps slam talks as secretive and likely to yield lavish tax breaks for $800 billion company

DANIEL GEIGER
November 12, 2018

Two Queens politicians lobbed criticism at the secretive efforts by state and city officials to bring Amazon's second headquarters to Long Island City.

Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer and state Sen. Michael Gianaris issued a joint statement Sunday objecting to a potentially huge package of subsides that could be granted to Amazon as well as the lack of community involvement in the blockbuster deal.

"We're hearing that this could be a billion-dollar package of subsidies," Van Bramer told Crain's. "That's ridiculous given all of the infrastructure challenges we have in this area, including schools, open space, parks, sewers and transit. It's also ridiculous given how wealthy and successful Amazon is. I don't think you need to throw a billion dollars at Jeff Bezos."

Van Bramer said that the $1 billion package is a rumor of what Amazon could receive by taking advantage of various benefits.

According to several sources, Amazon is negotiating to develop a campus of buildings for its headquarters on about 20 acres of land surrounding Anable Basin on the Long Island City waterfront. State officials are seeking to create a general project plan to arrange the deal, a structure under which the state can rezone land without city approval. Such a plan would circumvent the typical land-use review process for rezonings, known as Ulurp, which requires the City Council's approval.

The company could receive several incentives as of right, including the Relocation and Employment Assistance Program, which grants $3,000 in annual tax credits to a company for every employee relocated to specific areas of the city for up to 12 years. Amazon could avoid paying the majority of the property taxes that would result from building commercial properties by utilizing the city's Industrial and Commercial Abatement Program. Those two tax breaks are as of right, but the state also could hand Amazon additional discretionary benefits through the Excelsior Jobs Program, which gives breaks to companies for hiring and investing in the state.

Gianaris said the conversations with Amazon so far appeared to be focused on what kinds of benefits could be offered to the company even as its peers in the tech industry have expanded to a similar size without the same subsidies.

"Google just announced it could grow to 20,000 employees in Manhattan, and they're not getting any of this," Gianaris said. "This seems to be a backwards conversation. We're asking how much we should be giving to Amazon when it should also be trying to convince the community why it should be in Long Island City."

From those potential sites on the waterfront...


http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?t=230686












http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?t=229273