Two headquarters are better than one: Amazon confirms New York and Virginia will be home to new HQs

Web giant Amazon has confirmed it will build its new headquarters in New York City and Northern Virginia, after reports earlier this morning.

The online retailer has whittled down over 230 proposals, and decided to split its second North American headquarters over two sites.

The projects, which were announced today, will create up to 50,000 jobs and cost at least $5bn to build.

These jobs and investment will be evenly split between its Washington D.C. metro headquarters in Arlington, Virginia, and the Long Island City neighbourhood of Queens in New York, the company said. 

Hiring is expected to begin in 2019.

Chief executive Jeff Bezos said: “We are excited to build new headquarters in New York City and Northern Virginia. These two locations will allow us to attract world-class talent that will help us to continue inventing for customers for years to come. The team did a great job selecting these sites, and we look forward to becoming an even bigger part of these communities.”

The company announced the search for its so-called HQ2 was on in September last year, saying it was looking for somewhere close to a major airport where it could find technical talent.

Amazon also said it needed to be in a metropolitan area with over a million people where it could find a stable and business-friendly environment.

The list of candidates was eventually reduced to just 20, with Amazon visiting every site to see if it was suitable for the company.

The new sites in New York and Northern Virginia will add to Amazon’s existing headquarters in Seattle, which consists of 8.1m sq ft over 33 buildings, with 24 restaurants and 40,000 employees. The site also indirectly supports over 50,000 other jobs, Amazon said.

Employees at the Seattle headquarters will be given the option to stay there, or relocate to the new HQ2, Amazon said last year. It promised to hire new teams and executives for its new location, saying it would be a “complete headquarters for Amazon – not a satellite office.”