This week marks the five-year anniversary of Amazon’s decision to locate its second headquarters in Arlington.
The initial plan had HQ2 split between Arlington and New York City, but a few months later NYC was out and Arlington was the sole destination for the tech and retail giant.
In the five years since, Amazon has completed the first phase of its planned office complex and hired about 8,000 Arlington-based employees out of the 25,000 it says will eventually work here. Disappointing fans of the proposed “Helix” tower, however, it has delayed construction on the second phase of HQ2.
Arlington, and the dozens of cities that competed for HQ2, had visions of emerging as another Silicon Valley with the addition of a large Amazon presence. While Amazon certainly has provided a boost to the local tech scene, it’s hard to argue that Arlington is anywhere close to rivaling the Bay Area.
HQ2 is now a gleaming presence in Arlington, and adjacent Metropolitan Park has gotten a big upgrade from its former days as a defacto dog bathroom, but Pentagon City lacks the throngs of security-badged employees that one might expect around a major tech headquarters.
Meanwhile, fears of skyrocketing housing prices have only partially come to fruition. After the HQ2 announcement Arlington real estate prices rose disproportionately compared to the rest of the region, the Washington Business Journal reported, but that has since reversed, calling into question the true impact.
Housing prices and tech employment may be objective ways to measure the local HQ2 impact, but today we’re running a poll that takes a different approach: vibes.
Given your local knowledge, how do you assess the Amazon-driven changes in Arlington? How much of an impact do you think HQ2 has actually had?