Amazon in the negotiation phase with cities including Crystal City, Virginia, Dallas and New York for headquarters 2

Negotiations with the best candidates are probably in slightly different phases, according to knowledgeable people. In northern Virginia, Amazon is negotiating incentives with government authorities, but is also discussing with

JBG Smith Properties
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a publicly traded real estate investment trust, on properties owned by Crystal City, by persons familiar with the subject. Part of the negotiations involves defining the investment objectives that Amazon should achieve in order to qualify for incentives, said one of the officials.

New York is still actively discussing with Amazon, although it's hard to know where things are.

Together, these developments intensify the anticipation of the list of possible choices, although several knowledgeable people have warned that Amazon has not made a final decision. Some also believe that Amazon could announce its intention to place smaller operations in less recent locations. The company refused to discuss the process publicly except to say it would decide by the end of the year. Some people involved think that an ad might arrive this month. Negotiations are fluid and fast because they are at an advanced stage and discussions with individual cities could change or collapse at the last minute.

Amazon is "anything but predictable," said one of the regulars of ongoing negotiations in Virginia.

The site selection specialists say that Amazon is probably in talks at an advanced stage of discussions with at least two cities and that it has other cities waiting in case no transaction could be concluded.

A group of developers in Dallas, where advanced discussions are also continuing, recently bought a property on a site reserved for Amazon.

The ranking of other Amazon cities on the list of 20, such as Newark, N.J., is less clear. Chicago and Miami had until recently been in contact with Amazon, but are not in negotiations, according to some people. It does not necessarily mean they are out of the running.

Amazon announced more than a year ago its intention to build a second headquarters, triggering an unprecedented call for bids. Amazon said the new site, destined to become the second seat of the e-commerce titan, would create up to 50,000 jobs and more than $ 5 billion in investments over nearly two decades.

Amazon has managed the research in the greatest secrecy since the publication in January of the list of 20 finalists out of 238 cities and regions that submitted proposals. He made site visits earlier this year and asked for as much data as the results of high school tests. The company has asked the cities involved in the process to sign non-disclosure agreements, and officials have tried to keep the procedure secret.

The process has remained largely silent during the summer. Last month, the Wall Street Journal reported that Amazon had made a second visit to a handful of cities and was negotiating with some of them, and that it was heading to an urban site.

Amazon chief executive Jeff Bezos said this week that the decision would be made "intuitively after collecting and studying a lot of data." In a live interview with author Walter Isaacson, he said, "For a decision like this, I know the best way to do that is to collect as much data as you can, to immerse yourself in that data. but then make the decision with your heart. "

Amazon wants a place where it can demonstrate its economic value, but where it is not the only giant employer in the city. Each of the places still under discussion has advantages that could be attractive.

The Washington DC area has long been considered one of the pioneers of the process, in part because Mr. Bezos is domiciled and owns the Washington Post. It was also the only region with three finalists: Northern Virginia, Montgomery County, Maryland and D.C. The odds creators at the Paris venues have Northern Virginia as a favorite for most of this year.

Crystal City, located just across the Potomac River and from Washington, has an urban feel, many government offices and a ready-made campus with empty and older office spaces that Amazon could use. The region has good access to technological talent and transportation, both of which are at the top of Amazon's wish list.

The Washington Post reported Saturday that Crystal City was in advanced talks with Amazon.

Dallas has a lower cost of living and incentives for public-private partnerships, in the form of tax rebates, grants, infrastructure cost sharing and other methods to offset project costs and costs. operational. It is also in Texas, which does not impose personal income tax.

One of the potential sites is a 7.2-acre site that previously housed the Dallas Morning News, sold last week for $ 33 million to a Dallas developer. The property is located across the street from the Dallas Union Station and Amtrak Station, a hub for commuters, and adjacent to the intersection of Highways 30 and 35, which would satisfy the preference Amazon central to be in a well serviced urban area.

Dallas-based developers who bought the site, run by a company called KDC, said in regulatory filings last week that they would pay 50% of their profits to their previous owner, AH Belo Corp. the group purchase ends on December 28th. They would pay 33% of the profit to Belo if the good was sold to Amazon in the year following the closing date. A representative of KDC said that nothing had been announced by Amazon about a possible location in Dallas.

In New York, an area of ​​Amazon has explored is Long Island City, Queens, the newspaper reported earlier. The residential neighborhood is perched on the East River overlooking Manhattan and is mired by tall buildings and young professionals.

Suspected leaks to the process bothered at least one Amazon manager, Mike Grella, the company's director of economic development for its cloud computing branch, who was not involved in the research. "Genie Memo Revealing Information on Crystal City, Virginia, as Selection # HQ2," says a post on his

Twitter

Saturday account, one of several recently complained about articles on the subject. "You do not do the slightest favor in Crystal City, VA. And stop processing the NDA that you have signed as a used napkin.

Shayndi Raice, Keiko Morris and Valerie Bauerlein contributed to this article.

Write to Laura Stevens at [email protected], Scott Calvert at [email protected] and Tawnell D. Hobbs at [email protected]