BY JOHN SNYDER
OF PASCACK PRESS
MONTVALE, N.J.—No to Newark, no to Queens, and now, in a polite paragraph, no to Montvale.
In the wake of Seattle-based behemoth Amazon’s sudden bailing on Long Island City, Queens for part of its planned second U.S. headquarters, Mayor Michael Ghassali saw an opportunity to woo the company, saying that the borough, already home to world-class operations, might serve part of its strategic plan.
In a letter to residents on Feb. 17, Ghassali said he found opposition to Amazon in Queens “ill-advised” and explained he’d contacted the company to invite it to consider Montvale for a satellite office.
He said Amazon’s business model—the ubiquitous multinational technology company focuses on e-commerce, cloud computing, and artificial intelligence—“allows them to provide their global service from virtually anywhere, and we are going to attempt to attract them on a smaller scale to Montvale.”
He also allowed that “I don’t know their strategy, since we can only provide a small percent of their real estate needs, but I believe we are well suited to be a satellite office for them without truck traffic.”
Ghassali said he “introduced them [Amazon] to our great town, and I made it clear that we are not politicians but we are business-minded people who understand the importance of Amazon’s presence in our region.”
He said he further made it clear that “We understand and appreciate all businesses in our town and surrounding towns. These businesses and Amazon create jobs, create commerce, and will help us to improve our infrastructure and keep our taxes stable and low.”
Intending to sweeten the deal with tax incentives, he said, “I believe it is an investment that will help us to reap benefits in job creation, increased commerce and more business for the smaller service providers in town.”
He suggested that should Amazon site here “it would join great global companies KPMG, Sharp Electronics, Benjamin Moore, Flight Center, and 600 more businesses.”
He also predicted “Amazon will make a great addition to our portfolio of world-class tenants and they will be treated as such.”
Finally, Ghassali said he was counting on residents’ support “should we advance with this opportunity” and promised to keep them posted.
He did just that on Feb. 21, saying he had heard back from Amazon’s real estate team, which thanked him for his support but said they were set.
“We are not reopening the search for another HQ location at this time. We will focus our headcount growth in Virginia, Tennessee, and across our other corporate offices in North America. We have many employees in New Jersey and appreciate the great resources and labor the state and your region have,” Ghassali’s contact said.
That’s a heartbreaker, as these things go, but as former Gov. Thomas Kean said in promoting the New Jersey Lottery, “You’ve got to be in it to win it.”
The company invited the mayor to “keep in touch,” which he told residents he would do. He added he would “be happy to offer any assistance to Amazon should they need anything from us.”
Amazon making changes
Amazon bailed on a campus in Long Island City, Queens for part of its planned second U.S. headquarters, which includes Arlington, Virginia.
The deal was expected to bring as many as 25,000 jobs to each new campus.
“After much thought and deliberation, we’ve decided not to move forward with our plans to build a headquarters for Amazon in Long Island City, Queens,” the company said in a statement Feb. 14.
“For Amazon, the commitment to build a new headquarters requires positive, collaborative relationships with state and local elected officials who will be supportive over the long term.”
The company announced in November 2017 that it would split its proposed second headquarters, or HQ2, between Queens and Arlington.
In explaining its rationale for ditching Queens, it said “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.”
Amazon said it is following through on growing in the boroughs, as it expects to boost its headcount of 5,000 workers in Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Staten Island.
In an analysis of the collapsed deal, Josh Barrow, writing for “Intelligencer,” said on Feb. 14 that “Neither party truly needed the other. New York City didn’t need a new corporate headquarters campus, particularly one it would need to subsidize to the tune of $3 billion.”
He added, “And while Amazon needs to have a large and growing workforce in New York City, it doesn’t necessarily need as many as 25,000 employees here, and those employees don’t need to form the anchor of a new office district the city had hoped to foster in an outer borough.”
Meanwhile, Newark, one of 20 finalist cities out of hundreds that submitted elaborate proposals but fell short to Queens, also reacted to Amazon’s news—as did Gov. Phil Murphy.
The governor said in a statement on Feb. 14 that on learning of Amazon’s decision he made immediate contact with the company and Newark officials to continue a dialogue with stakeholders that began under Gov. Chris Christie’s administration.
In 2018 Christie signed a bipartisan bill to draw Amazon’s HQ2 to Newark, offering subsidies of as much as $7 billion, a record for the Garden State.
“New Jersey is open for business, and now more than ever, Newark is the clear choice as the next presence for Amazon corporate offices. Amazon now has the opportunity to join in Newark’s story of a city on the rise,” Murphy said.
Newark Mayor Ras J. Baraka said the same day he was eager to resume talks with Amazon.
He published an op-ed in the “Washington Post” on Feb. 17 saying that Newark, in preparing its proposal, wanted the partners to invest in each other.
As the smoke clears, an estimated 56 percent of New Yorkers said they supported Amazon moving to Queens, though there was some rejoicing as well. In New York, news that the deal fell through was widely reported as stunning.
Also remarkable: After posting nearly $11 billion in earnings last year, fueled by the company’s earnings doubling between 2017 and 2018, Amazon legitimately paid nothing in corporate income tax last year, according to an analysis from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy.
Consistent call
In January, at the annual Greater Pascack Valley Chamber of Commerce Mayors Breakfast, Ghassali said his message to his council “and I think to my fellow mayors and to the region here is we have to be more flexible to businesses that are looking to move into our towns.”
He said Montvale made gains on affordable housing last year, with major projects taking shape at the A&P, the former Sony site, and the former Mercedes site, and said “My mission for this year, which is what I love to do, is go to more businesses, talk to the businesses, and work with the young and the seniors.”