NY Tech Community to Amazon: Bring HQ2 to New York

Julie Samuels, Executive Director

When Amazon recently announced its plan to build a second headquarters (“HQ2”) in North America, many in the New York tech community immediately knew the obvious: that NYC would be the perfect home for this ambitious new project.

Today, we are pleased to announce that more than 50 leaders in the New York tech community—including Tim Armstrong, Susan Lyne, Charlie O’Donnell, Kevin Ryan, Reshma Saujani, and Fred Wilson—have all signed a letter urging Amazon to build its HQ2 in NYC.

New York checks most, if not all, things Amazon wants for the city in which it will build HQ2 in, including plenty of tech talent, public transit, lots of new office space, and many sites that could be developed in Brooklyn, The Bronx, Queens, or Staten Island. It offers these things and so much more.

Our community writes in today’s letter:

“As entrepreneurs and investors who represent New York City’s robust and growing technology industry, we urge you to build HQ2 in NYC. We say this from a place of experience, having chosen ourselves to build and grow companies here because we believe New York is special, with a diverse and supportive ecosystem, and a uniquely dynamic culture.

New York City is a natural complement to Amazon’s presence in Seattle—from South Lake Union to New York Harbor, there exists a strong, shared history of ingenuity, grit, and acceptance of new people and ideas. Both cities welcome adventurers, inventors, and an insatiable energy to create.”

Amazon is already investing heavily in New York operations, with a new investment at Hudson Yards in Manhattan and a massive warehouse and fulfillment center in Staten Island. It would make perfect sense to further continue in this direction and build HQ2 here, too.