Montgomery Co. Looking Forward To Prosperity From New Amazon HQ

ROCKVILLE, MD — Despite their unsuccessful bid to woo Amazon's second headquarters to Montgomery County, local officials seem to have found a silver lining in the decision to select northern Virginia as one of the locations.

Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos announced Tuesday that Virginia's Crystal City and New York's Long Island City will split the second headquarters, ending the competitive nationwide search for the company's newest home. Before the announcement, Montgomery County was one of 20 localities on Amazon's short list.

In a statement, the Montgomery County Council said Amazon's decision to pick Northern Virginia was "good news" for everyone in the region.

"Amazon's decision to expand its existing presence in Northern Virginia is good news for the Washington region, which will benefit from the stronger private sector growth that Amazon will foster," the Montgomery County Council said in a statement. "It is good news for everyone who cares about future job growth in Montgomery County and the region generally."

Northern Virginia's location will be in National Landing, which is less than miles away from downtown Washington, D.C. Northern Virginia and Long Island City will each receive a $2.5 million investment from the company and see 25,000 new jobs, Amazon said in a press release.

County Executive Ike Leggett, who is retiring at the end of the year, joined the council to congratulate Virginia and emphasized the impact the second headquarters will have on the D.C. metro area.

"Although Montgomery County was not chosen as the site for Amazon’s second headquarters, we are very pleased that Arlington County will join Long Island City as one of the sites selected," Leggett said. "The Arlington location will result in additional jobs, business, and investments – all of which will benefit the entire DC metropolitan region – and Montgomery County."

Bezos, who also owns The Washington Post, said the decision to choose both sites will attract the best employees.

"We are excited to build new headquarters in New York City and Northern Virginia," Bezos said. "These two locations will allow us to attract world-class talent that will help us to continue inventing for customers for years to come. The team did a great job selecting these sites, and we look forward to becoming an even bigger part of these communities."

SEATTLE, WA - JUNE 16: An Amazon logo is seen inside the Amazon corporate headquarters on June 16, 2017 in Seattle, Washington. Amazon announced that it will buy Whole Foods Market, Inc. for over $13 billion. (Photo by David Ryder/Getty Images)

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