Amazon's Development Agreement with NYC
This memorandum of understanding (the “MOU”) sets forth certain understandings and agreements among New York State Urban Development Corporation d/b/a Empire State Development (“ESD”); The City of New York (the “City”); New York City Economic Development Corporation (“NYCEDC”; together with the City and ESD, the “Public Parties”), and Amazon.com Services, Inc. (the “Company”), with respect to a project to create, in coordination with the Company’s development partners, a new corporate headquarters for Amazon.com, Inc. and its affiliates in New York City, including the design, development, construction, renovation and operation of what will initially be approximately 4,000,000 square feet of commercial space and the creation of 25,000 new jobs with an average wage of over $150,000 annually within 10 years of the date hereof, with a planned expansion for a total of 6,000,000 to 8,000,000 square feet of commercial space that is expected to result in the creation of up to 40,000 new jobs within 15 years of the date hereof (the “Project”).
The Public Parties and the Company agree to work diligently together in good faith to undertake the actions described herein in order to implement the Project expeditiously and successfully.
1. Development Sites. The Project will be located in the Borough of Queens on some or all of the public and private sites depicted on Attachment A to this MOU, and/or potentially other nearby sites to be mutually determined by the Public Parties and the Company (respectively, the “Development Sites”). The Project is anticipated to include a new corporate headquarters and other uses described in Section 11(b) below.
2. Design Guidelines. The Public Parties and the Company will agree on a set of design guidelines (the “Design Guidelines”) for the Project. These Design Guidelines shall be generally consistent with the LIC Waterfront Design Guidelines developed by the City’s Department of City Planning. The Design Guidelines shall be reflected in the Development Plan referenced in Section 3 below and will be incorporated into the transaction documents for the Project.
3. Development Plan. The Company will submit to the Public Parties, for their review and approval, a development and land use plan (the “Development Plan”) for the Project that is consistent with the Design Guidelines. The Development Plan will contain an overall project timeline mutually agreed upon by the Public Parties and the Company (the “Project Timeline”) setting forth the timeframe within which the development of each of the facets of the Project should occur, including commercially reasonable construction and occupancy milestones for the Company consistent with the time frames described in the first paragraph of this MOU, which shall include (i) construction commencement on a new mixed-use office building or buildings of at least 1,500,000 gross square feet on the Public Development Sites (as defined below) (the “Initial Construction Phase”) within twelve (12) months of final approval of a general project plan (the “GPP”) and the leasehold conveyance of the Public Development Sites (excluding the DOE Premises) by ESD to the Company or its development partners, subject to extension due to unavoidable delay; (ii) completion of construction of the Initial Construction Phase within 48 months of construction commencement, subject to extension due to unavoidable delays; and (iii) occupancy of substantially all of the commercial office space of the buildings completed within the Initial Construction Phase by the Company and its affiliates (i.e., any entity that directly or indirectly through one or more intermediaries controls, is controlled by, or is under common control with the Company), no later than twelve (12) months after substantial completion of construction of the Initial Construction Phase. The Development Plan shall also incorporate certain key commitments described in Section 11(b) below, as well as the Department of Education building (the “DOE Premises”) and the other Development Sites currently owned by the City (collectively, the DOE Premises and such other Development Sites are hereinafter referred to as the “Public Development Sites”). The Public Development Sites may be reconfigured by agreement of the Public Parties and the Company.
4. Financial and Operating Plan. The Company will prepare and submit to the Public Parties a plan describing in general terms the financing and operating plan for the Project (the “Financing and Operating Plan”). This Financing and Operating Plan will include a projected budget for the Project as well as a statement of proposed sources and uses of funds that will be used to develop the Project.
https://d39w7f4ix9f5s9.cloudfront.net/4d/db/a54a9d6c4312bb171598d0b2134c/new-york-agreement.pdf
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