Amazon’s HQ2 cities may be in New York and Virginia: report

Amazon’s tale of two cities has reportedly narrowed to one in Virginia and one in New York.

The New York Times on Monday night reported that the internet retail titan is “nearing a deal” on splitting its second headquarters between Crystal City, Va., and the Long Island City neighborhood in Queens, N.Y.

Speculation has grown over the last few days about which cities might share “HQ2” — and whether Chicago was still in the running.

The long-awaited decision has yet to be made, but each new office is expected to bring 25,000 new jobs to whichever cities Amazon chooses.

The Washington Post reported last week that Amazon has recently been in advanced discussions with Crystal City. The other reported location is Long Island City in Queens, N.Y., according to the New York Times.

In January, Chicago made the list of 20 finalistsfrom across the nation for the online retailer’s “HQ2,” a new campus equivalent to its original Seattle headquarters where the company says it expects “to invest over $5 billion in construction and grow this second headquarters to include as many as 50,000 high-paying jobs.”

Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s chief spokesman Adam Collins said the administration would not get into the “parlor game” of speculating where HQ2 would eventually be, but noted that Chicago has “led the nation in corporate relocations for five years in a row because of the strengths of Chicago’s talent, transportation, training, technology and transparency.”

“We have respected the company’s desire for confidentiality all along, and we will continue to do so,” Collins added.

Speculation is also building that an announcement about which city will get HQ2 could come this month after Tuesday’s midterm elections, according to the Washington Post. Amazon has promised to make its selection this year.