Amazon’s decision to pull its plans for an HQ in Long Island earlier this year should give the city of New York pause for thought, says Brookfield’s Ben Brown.
A managing partner of the asset manager’s real estate group, Brown added: “You don’t want to become a market where you take for granted that is the place that everyone wants to be. If we don’t learn anything from how that was handled, it will be a missed opportunity.
“The optics of the whole event were just not helpful for the city… the city was sort of saying of ‘go away, we don’t want you here’. And that’s not really a helpful tone.”
He was referring to Amazon’s decision to withdraw plans for an 8m sq ft headquarters in Long island, Queens, in February this year following local resident and political push-back.
When the city of New York revealed in November 2018 that it had agreed to provide over $3bn in subsidies and tax breaks for Amazon’s proposed HQ, Long Island state senator Michael Gianaris described the proposal as “a bad deal” and an embarrassment to the state and city. “They got taken, plain and simple,” he said.
City council member Brad Lander, a Brooklyn Democrat, echoed Gianaris’ concerns and said the deal was “not only an assault on Long Island City”, but an assault on transport capacity and democracy.
As a result, Amazon released what will surely become of the most infamous break-up letters in history. The firm announced in a statement that it was parting ways with the city and would not be going forwards with the scheme: “While polls show that 70% of New Yorkers support our plans and investment, a number of state and local politicians have made it clear that they oppose our presence and will not work with us to build the type of relationships that are required to go forward with the project we and many others envisioned in Long Island City.”
If a large business wants to create swaths of employment – in Amazon’s case, it was estimated the new HQ could have brought up to 40,000 employees into the city – then incentives should be offered, says Brown.
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