Amazon officials reconsidering HQ2 in NYC due to local opposition

By: Ruth B.

Online retail giant Amazon is reconsidering its plans to open a headquarters in Queens due to opposition from local lawmakers, according to a new report.

Executives at the company recently met to reassess setting up shop in Long Island City, as pols and activists continue to rail against the controversial new campus, the Washington Post reports, citing two people “familiar with the company’s thinking.”

“The question is whether it’s worth it if the politicians in New York don’t want the project, especially with how people in Virginia and Nashville have been so welcoming,” one of the sources told the paper.

City and state officials negotiated a deal to lure Amazon’s new digs to the outer borough with $2.5 billion in tax credits and $500 million in state construction subsidies — in exchange for which the company says it will bring 25,000 jobs and generate some $27 billion in tax revenue.

But many locals and lawmakers are furious at the notion of giving tax breaks to a company owned by the richest man on the planet, Jeff Bezos.

Amazon hasn’t actually bought or leased any space for the project yet — and also hasn’t made any concrete plans to throw in the towel and find a more welcoming city, according to the Washington Post.

But the paper’s sources say the time for Amazon to make a decision one way or the other is fast approaching.

“I think now is the time for Amazon to make a decision because it has to start hiring,” one person told the paper. “At some point, the project starts to fall behind.”