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Amazon confirms 2nd HQ to be split between New York, Northern Virginia

Amazon.com Inc.'s yearlong search for a second headquarters came to an end Nov. 13 as the company announced that it has selected Long Island City in New York City's Queens borough and the Crystal City area of Arlington, Va., confirming earlier reports.

The e-commerce giant also announced a new Operations Center of Excellence in Nashville, Tenn., which it said will create more than 5,000 jobs. The center will serve as the eastern U.S. regional hub for the tech and management functions of the retail operations division.

The company's search was initially focused on one location. However, Amazon decided to split 50,000 jobs and $5 billion in investment between both cities.

"We can recruit more top talent by being in two locations," Amazon said in a statement.

In its request for proposal, the e-commerce giant made it clear that it was looking for a city with "the potential to attract and retain strong technical talent."

Amazon's deal with Virginia includes a "performance-based direct incentives of $573 million," according to Amazon's official announcement. This includes a workforce cash grant from Virginia of up to $550 million over 12 years, dependent on Amazon's provision of the promised high-paying jobs. In addition, Amazon will receive a cash grant of $23 million over 15 years form Arlington, based on the "incremental growth of the existing local Transient Occupancy Tax."

The company said the headquarters will be located in "National Landing," which includes Crystal City and is located in the Washington, D.C., metro area.

In a similar deal with New York, Amazon will receive "performance-based direct incentives of $1.525 billion," which includes a cash grant of $325 million and a refundable tax credit of up to $1.25 billion through New York state's Excelsior Program.

However, there are some reservations among some elected officials about the e-commerce giant moving to Long Island City.

"Offering massive corporate welfare from scarce public resources to one of the wealthiest corporations in the world at a time of great need in our state is just wrong," said state Sen. Michael Gianaris and Councilmember Jimmy Van Bramer, in a joint statement.