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Why Crystal City, Virginia, Was An Easy Choice For Amazon’s HQ2
In perhaps one of the more game-changing decisions in recent real estate history, Amazon announced its decision to split its second headquarters between Crystal City, Virginia, and Long Island City, New York, along with a smaller Operation Center in Nashville, Tennessee. The decision came as a shock to many who felt certain that low-cost cities like Atlanta or Dallas would be the final contenders, but, in retrospect, there are a multitude of underlying factors that make these three cities, particularly Crystal City, the ideal location for Amazon’s second headquarters.
While all three cities meet Amazon’s requirements, it’s logical for Amazon to split HQ2 into two locations, knowing the difficulty of finding or attracting 50,000 new employees in any one locality. And while a low cost of living in other markets may make sense to the bottom line, the need for an abundant number of highly skilled and educated workers outweighed any short-term financial benefits. With Crystal City, Amazon will check every wish-list item it wanted during its search.
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