Amazon is reconsidering the idea of building a new campus in New York City, after the idea originally led to opposition from New York lawmakers.
“The question is whether it’s worth it if the politicians in New York don’t want the project, especially with how people in Virginia and Nashville have been so welcoming,” one person familiar with the company’s plans told the Washington Post.
Two sources said executives at Amazon have been reassessing whether to bring the campus to New York, which would bring in 25,000 new jobs, or explore alternatives.
Politicians and advocacy groups oppose the move because it would lead to huge subsidies to the world’s most valuable company.
In recent weeks, New York City Council members challenged Amazon executives at a hearing as protesters booed and held up anti-Amazon signs, the Post noted.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and other Democrats have been outspoken about opposition to Amazon bringing a campus to the city.
In Virginia and Tennessee, officials have more readily embraced Amazon campuses. On Tuesday, Virginia’s embattled Gov. Ralph Northam signed a bill that would provide $750 million in incentives for Amazon to build half of its second headquarters campus near the nation’s capital.
Final approval for the other half of the headquarters in New York might not come until 2020.
