Amazon Picking Long Island City & Northern Virginia For Split HQ2: Reports

Long Island City in New York’s Queens borough and the Crystal City neighborhood in Arlington, VA, look to be Amazon’s choices to house its second world headquarters, ending the race for the Internet giant’s so-called HQ2 that started with 238 potential candidates and took a year to suss out.

The Wall Street Journal, which first reported the news Monday night, said an official announcement could come as soon as Tuesday. The Washington Post, which is owned by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, also said sources confirmed the decision.

The WSJ, citing people familiar with the matter, also said other cities could win “major sites.” Amazon did not respond to a request for comment from Deadline tonight, and the Journal said the company declined to comment for its story.

According to the WSJ report, Amazon is dividing the new headquarters evenly with as many as 25,000 employees apiece, splitting its new East Coast base into cities close to major hubs with plentiful tech talent. Its current world headquarters is in Seattle.

Bezos has a home near Crystal City in Washington, D.C., close to the Post.

Last week, the WSJ floated the two-city solution was under consideration, after Amazon had whittled the original 238 sites to 20 earlier this year. It said the company was in advanced discussions with Crystal City, Dallas and New York City. Cities have been sparking to lure the tech giant, which has promised 50,000 jobs and $5 billion in regional investment would go along with its new base.

Los Angeles was the only West Coast city that made the final 20 and many speculated that Amazon would prefer an East Coast locale as the rest of the finalist cities showed, from Atlanta, and Austin to Miami, Philadelphia and Raleigh. Toronto was the only finalist outside the U.S.