These thousands of Amazon tech jobs are really just a drop in the bucket for the DC market. All of the speculation and increased rates? Greed by speculators and strivers. I’m not surprised they’re excited about making more money from working class folks. Yet the real-world impact of these Amazon jobs and personnel will not be noticed.
3
I have lived in Crystal City, VA for the past 6 years and initially moved there as it was one of the more affordable areas inside the DMV area. I have watched the neighborhood change over the years and unfortunately have seen many of my long term neighbors pushed out. I do not share in people's joy that Amazon is coming to Arlington. They're not even here and we're already feeling the effects. My rent this year after the announcement went up by 8% and others in my building were raised upwards of 15%. I was told by my landlord that it is essentially due to Amazon. My fiance and I were just on the cusp of saving enough money to purchase a home in the area, which was already a difficult task due to a high medium home price. Now due to rising housing costs in the area from Amazon, we're back to square one. As a middle class family, we don't know how we can continue to live in the DMV area. We were already feeling stretched thin prior to the announcement and this is just pushing us past our limits. Having both lived in the DMV area for over a decade, we've wanted to make the DMV our home and raise a family here. Unfortunately we're currently wrestling with moving out of the area, as we don't see how this will be financially feasible. As a middle class family, if I'm feeling the squeeze, what about low-income families in the area? The county has not done enough to address the citizen's concerns.
5
Same thing has happened in Austin — the decimation of our middle- and lower-socioeconomic classes due to the influx of high-tech — and our city leaders had the audacity to court Amazon hard and heavy to hammer the last nail in our collective coffin. I am so sorry to see Arlington go through the same experience.
2
I'm overall happy that Amazon is coming to my neighborhood to fill in the empty office space and provide customers for local businesses that have been struggling. I attended a planning meeting yesterday evening and it sounds like they're trying to encourage bike commuting and to build an inviting walkable public space around the ground floor of the building. Can't be worse than the fenced-off abandoned warehouse that's currently blocking pedestrian access.
9
Many progressive organizations in Arlington, Alexandria and DC opposed giving any local or state of Virginia funds to Amazon Q2 in Crystal City and warned our elected representatives of the dire consequences on affordable housing. Now this has proved us right.
Our all Democratic Arlington County board of supervisors (our city council and mayor) have been gentrifying Arlington for decades; we lost 18,000 affordable market rate apartments since 2000. The county's housing assistance program replaced fewer than 5,000, and has never met the county's goal of adding 400-600 net new units a year. The county board refuses to add the needed additional funding.
Our Democratic county board's goal is to eliminate as many lower income people as possible and are succeeding. They mouth cliches like support for affordable housing, a diverse community, keeping seniors, Latinos and blacks here, but their budget plans and subsidies to developers and Amazon show their hypocrisy.
1
Amazon should locate in the Midwest in a depressed area.
8
I bought a cheap house in the middle of nowhere to retire in.
Now a huge casino is coming to this town.
Home prices are rising.
Roads are being expanded.
Everybody better get ready for the recession.
I am.
2
What will happen when Amazon goes bust?
3
This story is repeated every day here in SF.
High tech companies can pay high rents; small businesses can't, and so they're priced out when their lease expires (we've lost 2 long-time retailers in our neighborhood just in the last two weeks). I can't imagine how renters survive. I helped one son and his girlfriend move into a tiny 1-bedroom apartment a year ago, and remember thinking: "So this is what you get these days for $3,000 a month?" If you own your home (we do) and don't have to pay rent, it's doable, but I could never afford to pay rent here. Rents used to be disproportionately lower than purchase prices (I still remember the New Yorker-type cartoon, posted in a local restaurant, showing a young couple discussing their finances. The man said: "Looks like we're going to have to live in Pacific Heights until we can afford to live in Pacific Heights." On its face, absurd, but I knew what he meant: "We're going to have to rent in Pacific Heights [cheap, back then] until we can afford to buy in Pacific Heights [expensive, even back then].").
Rents here have "caught up" to purchase prices, but that only means that rents have skyrocketed. What I once rented a spacious 1-bedroom apartment for in the 1970s might (might) today get me a sleeping space on the basement floor in the same building.
I can't say I see any real difference in Arlington, Virginia, Amazon or not. Cities everywhere are seeing much higher rents -- sale prices are up too, but rents are through the roof.
4
This article should be read in tandem with Liz Cohen’s article today about affordable housing, generally, in the United States. One of the reasons for all of this, obviously, is the excessive remuneration given to government employees in an excessively bloated government, making the suburbs bordering D.C., before Amazon, among the most expensive in the nation. And the second reason, also obviously, is the excessive immigration, both legal and illegal, into the area, which has driven up home prices, and has, as well, exacerbated the costs of all services from education to health care. Not to mention congestion. A pity for the quality of life in our nation generally, and for the D.C. area specifically.
5
What is driving up housing costs in DC are all the high paid private sector jobs feeding off the government. Their numbers exploded after 9/11 when Homeland Security pumped billions into the local economy. High paid lawyers, lobbyists, accountants, tech sector employees, systems aggregators etc have at least tripled while the number of government employees has shrunk and their incomes stagnated. And no I am not a government employee - the pay is too low. The defense industry has also grown locally. When I came to DC General Dynamics and Lockheed were not headquartered here. For those of us who can afford it DC has become a lot more fun with the number of good wine bars and restaurants soaring,and we have a baseball team again! Yes there are a few multi millionaires in government such as all the ones Trump brought in but they earned their millions elsewhere or like Trump inherited their wealth. When DC was just a government town it was relatively cheap - much more affordable than say Hartford CT. Now the tech sector is the regions largest employer. And our economy is booming.
3
thank god they didn't come to queens NY . Amazon is nothing but a mega warehouse for products distribution. nothing more nothing less. its a matter of time before other companies figure out the formula and Amazon one day would be like aol. just another minor player in its sector.
9
Good for New York and all who helped keep this behemoth out! Get stuck on the 5 in Seattle, or- worse- try buying a house there if you want to see how having Amazon plays out. Time to break up this lousy monopoly.
12
I live near Capitol Hill. I know of planned residential projects totaling 465 units for what are currently vacant lots within 1/4 mile of my house, on Benning Road. All of these projects have been held up for years because of legal challenged by a small handful of change-averse neighbors and sympathetic judges. Developers have started proposing smaller developments in DC to avoid the fiasco of the PUD process (process by which they can build larger than what's zoned in the Comprehensive Plan). Just Google "McMillan Reservoir" if you want to see world class NIMBYism.
These delayed projects were planned for deliver in 2018 and no ground is broken yet. They would be perfect residences for Amazon employees. I actually make the commute to Crystal City every day, by bike, car, and metro. I hope these projects move forward and soon. The people are coming whether we like it or not, and they will need places to live. If the well-off ones can't find new construction, they will turn to the historically working class neighborhoods and buy up the prices.
We need more housing, and lots of it. People often mention the Height Act as a constraint. Some of the most dense cities in the world have very few structures over 10 stories - Paris, Dakha, Karachi, London. Allowing triplexes everywhere, as with Minneapolis, would have dramatically more impact that a few residential towers. Real solutions are in mass-rezoning. Throwing a few million $ at a few rent controlled units is window dressing.
7
This reminds me of when Henry Ford was gonna open a factory in Escanaba Michigan in the 1920s. 16 years later the land purchased was sold, the factory never built.
1
So relieved Amazon didn't "pick" Boston (or NYC my former home town).
10
I have lived in a townhome I have owned on the very south edge of Arlington for the past six years. It’s always been the cheaper, more run down part of Arlington and I’ve been fine with that. Few parking restrictions and less traffic. That has all blown up in the last few months. A townhome nearly identical to mine a block away sold two months ago to a speculator for cash over the asking price and the buyer never even set foot in the house! I just bought a nicer house in nicer north Arlington to accommodate me and my new wife. Right now the hardest decision I have is whether to sell my existing home now or rent at confiscatory rates for awhile and wait for the price to skyrocket.
...but I am safely in the 1 percent and can get away with all this, paying two mortgages. What in the heck is the average Arlandria citizen going to do??
4
Homeless, poverty, living with their parents.
9
That's only 2500 residences a year, if that. Whoopty do. We really don't know how many jobs will be created, how much the average pay will be, or if people will need to move. 2500 jobs can be filled by people working from home a thousand miles away. Or people will commute from Herndon, Manassas and Woodbridge. Real estate speculation at this point is silly. Not to mention, do you really trust Jeff Bezos?
3
What is lost in this discussion was the method Amazon chose to design the deal in NYC, which is likely what they did in Arlington - demand that the government give them a good deal on the private land beneath their new campus. That was the stupidest thing in NYC; NYS buying up all that private land only to hand it over to Amazon. Government never loses when it acquires then leases out land to these tech companies. Why allow these billion dollar companies to play land speculator on top of being an out of control monopolist is the height of insanity.
63
@Marty Rowland, Ph.D., P.E.
Because the government is bought and paid for by the top 1% in this country. It is no longer a government by the people, for the people, and of the people. It is a government that is run by the heads of the S & P 500 companies. The U.S. is no longer a Democracy, but rather a Plutocracy. Divisions and hatred between the masses are deliberately sowed and fanned by the rich and powerful to help divide and conquer. To add more logs to the fire; the largest voting bloc in this country is the group of eligible voters that don't vote. It brings to mind the saying: “If GOD didn’t want them sheared, he would have not made them sheep.”
29
@biglatka
Love that quote from God. Still, did God make them sheep, or their stupid parents and poor schools who dare not challenge teaching US history as if it is MAGA writ large. Did they get warned what happens when the working class get silenced? Did they learn about how Reconstruction was stopped and replaced by Jim Crow laws and confederate statues?
8
All one has to do is look at the mess in Seattle and surrounding suburbs. There is no real affordable housing for about a 50 mile radius. Not everyone is a tech worker making big bucks. No wonder the homeless problem is completely out of control! Where the heck are ordinary, hard-working people supposed to live? Oh yeah, under the bridge, in a car, sqatters in abandoned buildings, the woods or just lie down in the street! Tax breaks are messing things up when state governments don't look beyond the future employment numbers and don't do anything to fix the problems they already have.
82
@Mary Crain
The jobs things is an illusion too. There is no difference between the Amazon deal and when some sports team billionaire owner demands a municipality build a stadium for their team. They both promise jobs that never materialize. If some do by chance happen... they are nowhere near the tax breaks that these business entities receive.
31
@FDRT "The jobs things is an illusion too."
you cannot have it both ways. either Amazon brings a lot of well-paying jobs that cause an increase in housing prices, or Amazon does NOT bring those high-paying jobs, in which case potential housing price increases have nothing to do with Amazon.
8
@Bogtan
.. or it goes slower. Much slower. Sort of grown homogeneous....
“Amazon is just speeding up the development timeline,” said Ms. Le Blanc
Yeah, this is actually a problem. Across the board, wages aren't keeping up and housing becomes unaffordable, fast.
Thanks, AOC for helping to keep THIS out of our city.
88
@Yves
Yes, we didn't need all of those high paying jobs.
15
@KellyNYC not if they were going to be subsidized by nyc and ny state, no.
20
@Bogdan While I would have preferred to see less or no state/city subsidies, it still would have been economically positive for the city. Chasing Amazon out was shortsighted to say the least and ignored the long-term benefits of increased tax revenue.
12
Queens, you don’t even know what bullet you dodged!
8
New York is blessed that Amazon did not come here and that we fought them off. They are a force of destruction and would have ruined the city . We have a lot of problems to address, but at least we don't have this alien-like power landing in our midst, sucking out billions of dollars, and taking over.
I feel sorry for the people in Northern Virginia. Their leaders --dazzled by wealth and the "glamor" of tech--sold them down the river. Their problems have only just started.
7
In NYC the Amazon deal was, as is everything else, about real estate and was in the works for far longer than anyone would suspect. When and if the full story ever comes out, it will be clear that this was initiated under the Bloomberg admin., who continued to act as intermediary with fellow billionaire Bezos on behalf of his charming developer cronies. Cuomo and de Blasio were just there as window-dressing. Bezos however is so wealthy he's not even awed by Bloomberg and his cabal of NYC moguls and felt no remorse at bailing.
It also helps explain de Blasio's seemingly knuckleheaded proposal for a streetcar line to nowhere along the Brooklyn-Queens waterfront. On the face of it, such a line would seem to serve no purpose, but developers salivating over the prospect of Amazon in LIC would have found a streetcar the perfect amenity, delivering workers from luxury condos in Brooklyn (also courtesy of Bloomberg) to LIC. Fortunately, de Blasio couldn't come right out and state its real purpose, so the billion dollar boondoggle has just languished. Even bringing Chuck Schumer's daughter on board as the titular head of the developer front organization promoting the line, hasn't been able to resuscitate it.
2
Stan continople, I could not agree more. I wish more journalists were on the case
1
Amazon’s move adjacent to National Airport will make impassable an already challenging trip to catch flights and pickup friends and family. Hello, Dulles Airport!
2
Meanwhile, Baltimore City has ample space for new housing/ commercial development and is in desperate need of corporate investment...
4
Why won’t Amazon develop in upstate NY or in Lowell MA or some location close enough to the talent pool but away from the maddening city density? They could walk away with civic pride, having developed an ailing location and gotten the building for cheap.
Instead they insist on making an already bad situation worse.
I am absolutely delighted that they didn’t develop here. You should see their cockamamie ideas for development where I live (they proposed gondolas to bear the traffic).
6
Amazon destroys local businesses, squeezes manufacturers, moves as much as possible overseas and destroys communities by raising the cost of housing. NYC was very wise to look closely at what they were going to do in Queens. It is also a myth that Amazon is cheap or convenient - overall it is neither, it's one big ripoff and best avoided.
7
Yes, it's been pricey here for awhile, but it seems to already be spiking in anticipation of Amazon. I have no idea how my partner and I will be able to ever buy a place of our own around here. Housing costs are just too ridiculous.
1
When the Federal government relocates its concentration of offices (and the accompanying lobbyists) from the DC Area to the undervalued areas of nations, its housing crisis will be over!
7
As a recent retiree in Alexandria, my home value can't go up soon enough, so I can sell and move to Florida.
2
Buy a boat. You may need it.
7
Since the Long Island City fail, Amazon HQ2 has taken on the aspects of a plague ship.
2
Man, shame this isn't happening in NYC. I'd love for my rents to be even higher.
1
Amazon donates $3 million. What an insult.
Seems the cities who turned down Amazon maybe were smarter than folks gave them credit for.
5
I hope NOVA learns from NYC's mistakes...between 2000 and 2016 we added around 700K adults to NYC (Tons of jobs! Immigrants! A good thing!) and only around 250k housing units.
(see page 12 of this report from NYU http://furmancenter.org/files/sotc/SOC_2017_FOCUS_Changes_in_NYC_Housing_Stock_1JUN2018.pdf )
Don't be like NYC and have a completely self-inflicted housing crisis. Don't make building apartments illegal!
1
We’re loving it. Makes it easier to leave.
1
We lived in Bellingham Washington about 90 miles north of amazon headquarters. We had 4 neighbors who worked at amazon and went to Seattle about 4 days a month the rest of the time they telecommuted and with the Price of our homes being about 1/3 of Seattle it made a bunch of sense to me. Even with the traffic on the days they had to go to the office they could actually take a seaplane and get there in less time than if they lived in king county.
3
While this article focus on Amazon and their HQ2 headquarters, every city Amazon is targeting for a center (distribution, technical, etc.) is offering incentives to get those jobs. It would be a different discussion if Amazon was a good corporate citizen and added something to the communities they are moving into, but the reality is each community seeking an Amazon facility is offering incentives to a company that does not pay federal taxes and offers little to nothing to the communities they are moving into. The amount of homeless and low income people in Seattle should have been a clear example of how they operate. Microsoft, in Seattle, has committed far more to solve the related issues than Amazon has. I have lost so much respect for a company that I once admired. Amazon is a leach. It's nice Jeff Bezos is the wealthiest man in the country, but what has he or Amazon done for the US? I am no longer an Amazon customer. I speak with my pocketbook and hope others do as well.
26
@Patrick right there with you. I've already cancelled my Prime and have wholeheartedly stopped ordering from them altogether. Bezos is just another corporate shill that likes playing the nice card when it suits him. Leach is a perfectly fitting name for Amazon.
5
People never learn, do they? This is a free for all, Everyman for himself country. The loudest , most shameless come out on top. Greed and agression are requirements for the so called American Dream of 2019.
18
@Ruth lin
You understand!
Slow feet don’t eat.
1
Capital always wins. Your feet move to feed it.
1
When commercial real estate is built or retooled for new uses, affordable housing for workers and locals should be provided by
developers/owners. Cities make owners provide an adequate number of parking spaces for their tenants. Affordable housing for employees and residents ought to be added to this equation. It is time for a change.
8
After living in the area for 34 plus years and working in consulting the housing market is always hot here with the good addresses. I live in Georgetown in a 165 year old house, and if you did not get in 20 plus years ago like I did it is already way too late. The area that Amazon is moving to has been fairly deserted by biz since the government moved out of crystal city after 911 due to security requirements and other reasons. Crystal city was once lots of feds and contractors and national airport. Now very quiet and lots of underused office space. The yards next door was a junk train yard with hazardous waste that nobody seemed to want. Old town Alexandria on the south side of the site away from DC is nice but has always been way out from DC for most folks. Subway and the airport as well as interstate is already there. Driving in the DMV is already impossible so what's a few more workers percentage wise. So the reality is that this is great for the area and will hopefully bring the area back. Not really considered DC by the locals, DMV yes, but not really DC. Low income people will once again lose out and have to move further out which is not good. But the specific area needs work and investment. Bring it on before I retire so I can get even more for my house when I cash out.
12
@Jc I don't know what you're talking about man. I lived in Del Ray and worked in DC for years. It was an easy metro in to DC from the Crystal City stop, or a fast drive on 395. That area was affordable, and now it will be ridiculous.
3
Soon the DC Metro will be as dysfunctional as the New York City Subway system, and the interstates that feed into Washington, will be like Broadway in Manhattan.
5
Will be???
Do you know what Metro’s new slogan is? It’s “Back To Good”
Back to good? How inspirational. I want to know what consultant got paid hundreds of thousands of dollars for that one.
1
I see lots of finger pointing at Amazon. It has a role but the real estate speculators have a huge role here—and elsewhere.
10
Capital that will raise prices so the little guy has to pay unreasonable costs or live as a renter. What’s not to hate about capitalism like this.
Sounds like Amazon would have been a catalyst for growth in Detroit, Milwaukee, Cleveland, St. Louis, Buffalo, or Newark. Guess Bezos needed a whiter shade of pale...
16
@Walter Bruckner
His excuse is he needed a more educated workforce.
He also owns the local paper and a home in the area. So it was not really adding a new city at all.
3
@Walter Bruckner Then Arlington is an odd choice.
1
Detroit Free Press headline circa 1908: Ford to Produce Model T in Detroit Sparking Fears of Unstable Housing Market.
8
@PA Best post in thread.
1
thank god they stayed out of queens nyc no apologies for those in queens with real estate who thought they hit the jackpot
6
Thanks to whichever decision-maker kept Amazon from building in Chicago. I wonder if those politicians and advocacy groups that were whining when Amazon was booted out of NYC are reading this and wiping their collective brows now that this evidence of how Amazon can screw housing market rates has been reported.
3
CLASSIC giveaway to billionaires. No money for housing, but $800 million to a company that's a behemoth.
When you get a crappy burger for $20 & begin to wonder, "where did all the engaged workers go?". They are tired from the 2 hours commute, the crappy healthcare and not looking forward to the 2nd / 3rd job.
I live in SF and we are 20 years in.
40
@Mrs. Sofie Any state/city subsidies were contingent upon Amazon meeting specific job goals (both number of jobs and payroll size).
1
While the concern regarding affordability is fair and genuine, Arlington covers a very small area of land. The DC metro area sprawls from the Maryland suburbs which stretch to Annapolis and Baltimore, DC itself and the sprawling Virginia suburbs. The key may be to build adequate transportation systems so that people and move quickly within these jurisdictions. Living 25-30 miles away from Amazon can be tolerable for an Amazon employee so long as reasonable transportation exists. Amazon would also be wise to distribute some of its employees throughout all three jurisdictions. Job dislocations and uncertainty are part our lives now, and Amazon's entry into the DC region is still likely a good thing. The economy of the DC region is still very dependent upon government and defense and Amazon's entry helps with diversification.
12
@Maya EV it would also help if DC became more friendly to high-rises. i understand why you wouldn't want to pluck them next to the Mall or in other historic neighborhoods, but Arlington seems like the perfect place to build more densely, especially when you're worried about housing prices.
5
@Bogdan Arlington isn't D.C., and there are quite a number of tall buildings there - especially in Rosslyn. But one problem with Northern Virginia is that more than half of the Metro stations are in predominantly suburban areas, and the lines don't provide great connections between S Arlington/Alexandria and North Arlington/Fairfax. So at least for the next few decades this is going to be a huge traffic mess.
1
@Bogdan Crystal City is next to Washington National Airport.....there are limits on bldg heights there.
2
has anybody in Arlington contemplated building more apartments? you'd think that would put some downward pressure on home prices. nymbyism is now so ingrained in most people's minds that the most obvious solution to these problems is not even on the table anymore.
3
@Bogdan
There's is very much building going on in Arlington, so I don't know why you said that. Plus, Arlington is just one very small part of the very large DC metro area. There are plenty of other places to build around DC, and many of them have much building going on as well. There are giant cranes all over the place.
9
@JustInsideBeltway i mentioned Arlington because this is the location of Amazon's headquarters. it's great that there are other neighborhoods adding apartments, but it seems natural to add a lot of them right there, since the neighborhood is projected to acquire tens of thousands of workers.
and the scale of the construction matters too. the numbers mentioned in this article seem completely underwhelming. but if you're right and the neighborhood is about to gain tens of thousands more apartments to keep up with the growth in the workforce then housing prices will not go up so much and these fears are overblown.
1
@Bogdan
The workers are not going to live all concentrated in such a small area just because the office is there. Arlington is well served by metro lines and people will commute there from the all over the DC area: from lots of counties in Virginia and Maryland, and from right across the river in DC. People commute around the DC area just like they do in every other big-city area.
Arlington is adding housing but it makes no sense to expect that one small part of the DC area will house everyone who will work there. That simply isn't how large metropolitan areas work. Plenty of people will want to live in DC, and commute by making the short hop right across the river.
9
Good on NYC for saying NO to this disaster. Amazon promises low-paying, low-skill jobs and get a large dosage of corporate welfare. Socialism for the rich, rugged individualism for the poor. Good luck Virginians grappling with those trying to push them from their homes. Pro-business isn’t always the way to go.
34
@JM those jobs are not low-paying (why would housing prices go up if you were right?) i agree about the corporate welfare part though, that's the only reason i strongly opposed the deal in my city.
4
@JM I don't disagree with your premise, but these are high skilled, high paying tech jobs coming in.
4
@JM You don't understand the deal. They were building office for skilled tech workers, not a warehouse or distribution center.
1
In addition to all the corporate welfare thrown at Amazon, the final calculation of the costs of bringing these jobs to the area should include all the housing subsidies to help keep people in their homes and moving costs that low-income residents will incur when forced to move.
BTW, I doubt there will be 25,000 jobs created. These promises are never kept.
10
@Eddie A company I worked for was the hot new thing in our county and they were given tax abatements of $50 million over a period of years. Fast forward another company has taken them over after the jobs were hollowed out some time ago. But the residents were still on the hook for making up for the $50 million in lost revenue.
12
@Eddie anyone who moves to another county is no longer part of the board's electorate and they are therefore somebody else's problem. There will be few consequences and there is no meaningful incentive for them for anyone to make sure Arlington is a home for low-income people.
I've lived in Arlington for the last four years. It was amazing to me how this deal and pitch by the County seemed to be a remote concern during recent local elections. The candidates seemed to focus on national issues (i.e., new commonwealth attorney, whose campaign was focused on abusive policing and prosecuting in a community where those issues frankly aren't a real concern). A local political group that I belong to would obsess about local candidates who talked about resisting Trump, as if that were the role of a board member. It seemed to me that many running recently had very breezy attitudes about Amazon and the housing issue.
5
How sad that we in New York missed out on the opportunity to obliterate what little affordable housing we have left and let our city be further overrun by highly paid yuppies and tech bros.
But seriously, when HQ2 was still being considered here, it was impossible not to notice the stark class divide between supporters and opponents, which neatly corresponded with haves and have-nots. Virtually everyone I encountered who enthusiastically supported HQ2 in New York either stood to directly benefit or would be unaffected by the inevitable increases in home prices.
It’s depressing, even if vindicating, to see northern Virginia experiencing exactly what opponents of HQ2 warned about.
39
@AJD "the inevitable increases in home prices."
there is nothing inevitable about home price increases. if Arlington planned to build 100k apartments or more over the next 10 years, there would just not be much of a price increase. but of course that would change the "character" of Arlington so it will never happen. so they're stuck with higher home prices. the same story would have unfolded in LIC.
9
I live in Arlington County and don't think Amazon had much to do with housing price increases EXCEPT in S. Arlington near where Amazon will be located. N. Arlington prices vary a bit from neighborhood to neighborhood and always have. Our house, very nice 30s, well-built, well maintained, has no value except as a teardown. All the value is in the land and has been for a long time before Amazon expressed any interest in Arlington.
17
Looks like we dodged the bullet on this one.
It makes no difference how many jobs Amazon is going to offer when you can't afford a place to live.
127
@N. Smith
I agree. I still find it astounding how people were so willing to overlook the obvious. Higher housing prices and ignoring other costs (without being taxed) like energy and traffic/infrastructure issues.
22
My sentiments exactly. I was thrilled when they decided not to come. It would have increased housing costs and commercial rents...and not just in Queens.
17
@N. Smith it seems a bit absurd to want high-paying jobs not come into your city because they would increase housing prices. by this reasoning, it would make sense to want worse schools and fewer parks, since this would also make Queens less desirable and therefore cheaper.
the reality is that if nyc keeps attracting successful companies (Amazon or not) housing prices will go up, unless we build more of it. LIC seemed like the perfect place to build more housing, because there are still a lot of industrial low buildings that could be converted to high-rises.
i opposed the Amazon deal as well, but only because of the obscene city and state subsidies. however, opposing jobs that pay well coming into your neighborhood seems a bit short-sighted to me.
17
Renters can always lower their costs by moving to other areas. In flyover country, a comfortable 3 bedroom 2000 sq ft home in a nice neighborhood with good schools can be rented for about $1300/month. A 2 bedroom, 2 1/2 bath condo rents for about $900 a month. Of course, many people will find the short, easy commute to work unchallenging.
4
Oh yes. All those mythical well-paying stable jobs in flyover country.
40
@Richard Winchester, Lots of jobs available out there? How's the rate of pay? I'll wait.
19
Although, I think it will be challenging to find the job that is paying living wages.
15
Let's no confuse things: since World War II, it has been expensive to live in Arlington. Most of the affordable housing has been the high volume of 1940s-era apartments that were built quickly and cheaply to accommodate the sudden influx of government workers. Those apartments have gradually been either updated for sale as condos, bulldozed or maintained in minimal condition as affordable housing. While it's regrettable that the lower income residents will no doubt feel the brunt of the negative economic effects of Amazon's arrival, all Amazon has done is speed-up a process that has already been progressing for generations. But in doing so, it has ensured that public resources and private assistance will be marshaled to their benefit where they might not have done otherwise.
31
@Al Phlandon, You are correct. I live in a little house built in '42 for Pentagon workers that is about 1.5 miles from the Amazon HQS. My house had quadrupled in value before Amazon's announced move here. (bought it in the mid-90s) I'm torn because I understand the pressure on people needing lower-income housing, but have to honestly admit I am thrilled because I had planned on selling and moving out of the area within the next five years. I already know that "bike to Amazon HQ" will be the first line in my listing.
2
But according to the article, these resources are not enough to mitigate the pain.
2
I bet NYcity is glad they lost all this outrageous price increases caused by Amazon. In Seattle they have tent cities now Virginia will see that next. Very sad. The 1 percent always get ahead. Capitalism does not work.
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@D.j.j.k. Seattle (and San Francisco, and Mountain View, and, and, and ...) have homeless people because of the weather and a total lack of medical care for mental illness and drug addiction. Talk to a homeless person in Seattle (or San Francisco. I have. They are 90% on the prowl for a fix.
By the way, if you want to look at homelessness in NYC, go back and read the book "Subways are for Sleeping" by Ed Love. Times have not really changed that much other than we have 3x population growth in the US since "Subways are for Sleeping" was written.
The solution is not Amazon's, or Microsoft's or any other tech companies fault. It is our inability to take care of sick and destitute people.
@Samuel. We have plenty of homeless people here in blazing hot/freezing cold New York. We also have plenty of treatment for mental health and substance abuse problems. Alas, many homeless do not avail themselves of these services, which is a big part of the reason they’re homeless in the first place. As for destitution, that’s an even tougher nut, one that stems from our hideously unequal economy and distribution of material benefits.
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@ProSkeptic
Yep. NYC has tons of homeless and have had them for a long time and many do not take advantage of available services. Back in 1956 there were very, very few millionaires and yet NYC had tons of homless. So, who would you blame all the homless on, before Amazon existed? The middle class?
"The city of New York has long been noted for the number and variety of its vagrants. Estimates as to the number of homeless and penniless men and women run from a conservative 10,000 to somewhere around half a million. Vagrants in other parts of the United States are a migratory lot, usually moving with the weather, but the New York variety stay put, occupying park benches, flop houses, gutters, and doorways in all seasons. " - Edmund G. Love. Harpers Weekly 1956
Northern Virginia was already growing fast. It is why the state went from red to blue a few years ago. So having more jobs and educated people can pay off in other ways.
Also, part of the increased demand is from new university projects being planned by both UVA and Virginia Tech. Both have original campuses in small towns far from the action. Those new campuses will be net pluses for the area.
What is needed is some sort of rent control.
By the way, for political hounds: I'm told Fairfax County (the biggest in area and population) is pretty solid blue, but very moderate, while the progressives and socialist leaning are more likely to be in Alexandria and Arlington (two smaller and separate jurisdictions that adjoin Fairfax and are more urban).
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I lived in Arlington before moving to Seattle 12 years ago. Best thing I ever did. Though I have to say, development and gentrification is catching up rapidly here as well. We know all about Amazon.
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A little reminder that Queens dodged a bullet.
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@Rensselaer - Agreed. De Blasio's and Cuomo's support for Amazon's LIC plan always struck me as bizarre, given the likelihood that there would be a negative impact on affordable housing (an issue they both claim to believe is important) and that "job creation" would primarily benefit white-collar workers.
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@Julie
I agree. I found it rather infuriating that people didn't seem to understand that blue collar workers were never really part of the plan. I mean, did people thing every job was going to pay $125K? Quite honestly the way these deals usually go, the tax breaks are given but the promised benefits never ever appear. Ever.
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Precisely!
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