Author: Christopher Lee and Hector Emanuel / Source: New York Times
Crystal City in Arlington, Va.
Long Island City in Queens
Instead of one new home, Amazon chose two. Two places, with waterfront views and organic shops and abandoned buildings, that will someday house tens of thousands of high-tech workers.
We spent much of this week in those two places, Crystal City in Arlington, Va., and Long Island City in Queens, to capture life there as Amazon named them the winners of a 14-month-long beauty contest for its new headquarters.
Together, the two areas — both are neighborhoods, not actually cities — could help make Amazon one of the largest private tech employers on the East Coast. Once Amazon fully moves in, neither will likely be the same.
Crystal City
Long Island City is home to the country’s largest public housing project. But for many walking along the park in the area that hugs the East River, what stands out are the shiny new high-rises, baby stores, coffee shops and yoga studios.
Since 2010, more apartment buildings have been built in Long Island City than in any other neighborhood in New York. Apartments in dozens of the new buildings sell for an average of over $1 million.
Long Island City
Many residents fear that Amazon’s arrival will only intensify the gentrification making the neighborhood less affordable for people of limited means. Over the next decade, Amazon said, it plans to hire as many as 25,000 people, who will earn, on average, $150,000 a year.
That same…
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