Amazon rumors NY jolt, DC real estate markets



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Mara Gemond, a longtime Arlington, Virginia, realtor, never did much business in the dingy cluster of office buildings near Reagan Airport known as Crystal City – until news broke that Amazon might be splitting its 50,000-employee second headquarters between there and Long Island City in New York.

All of a sudden, the two-bedroom condo in a 1980s-era building that had been sitting on the market for a few months, even after a price cut, had a flood of interest. Gemond did eight showings in one day, for people who would not know her why they were interested – but who she was suspicious. Amazon if it moves in.

"It feels like that moment in a horse race where the horses are lined up in the starting gate," says Gemond. "They're just antsy and ready to get going, they're waiting for that gate to be lifted."

It's not just her. The real estate listing website Crystal City and 659% in Long Island City.

They're very different markets. Crystal City itself has plenty of vacant office space – 23.3% in the third quarter, according to the CBRE commercial brokerage – and very little residential inventory. Most of the recent growth has been in neighborhoods to the south and east. It's also a short Metro ride across the Potomac River from newly constructed glass-tower neighborhoods in southwest Washington, DC.

Building in Long Island City, on the other hand, has exploded. More than a year ago, it was an analysis by RentCafe found.

But both markets have seen slowdowns over the past year or so. The Queens Waterfront is now up for sale. Amazon, with its legions of well-paid workers, could bring that to an end.

"It's amazing news, which had seen a little bit of oversaturation," says Alexander Pereira, who has been a broker in Long Island City for a decade. "I 've already been getting bombarded by investors, and they' re going into my properties.
Patrick Smith, a Long Island City-based realtor with Stribling, says he's up there, but he's not going to buy it right now. "Buyers are asking if they can make an offer without seeing the apartment," said Smith.
In the near term, that can be the biggest impact on a freeze, as soon as the incoming influx arrives. Robert Sanders runs at Sotheby's office in Alexandria, just south of Crystal City, and lives in a four-year-old development where million-dollar homes have been taken to sell. Yahoo group has been all about Amazon.

"Everybody's posting, 'Hey, what about Amazon, I suggest you hold on to your property,'" Sanders says. "A realtor does not want to hear."

But they have not stopped the inquiries from would-be buyers "Why do you have a sudden call in Crystal City?" asked Sanders, who usually queries customers to see if there is some reason they are in a hurry to move in. "I'm not getting a reason."

The wait-and-see attitude may affect development, too. Although the Amazon news may not be as good as it may be.

Progressive backlash against Amazon HQ2 is growing. Here's why
Tien Vominh is a developer of boutique properties in Long Island City. He said he was working on a new development site for a couple of months, but the process was stalled this week. "The second this news came out, the seller will not return our calls," Vominh said. "One of them finally said" Amazon's here. "

Eventually, though, Vominh figures that will change – especially because Amazon would not come all at once.

"They definitely have agitated the waters, so everything's kind of cloudy," he says. "I think it will settle down once people realize that 25,000 people are not on a plane headed in this direction."

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