After LIC debacle, Amazon sizing up Brookfield buildings for new office: report

Amazon isn’t done with New York City quite yet.

Months after pulling the plug on a plan to bring part of its second headquarters to Long Island City, the online retail giant is on the prowl for more office space on the west side of Manhattan, the New York Post reported.

The company is in talks with Brookfield Properties regarding its newly built One Manhattan West, and nearby Two Manhattan West, which is slated to open in 2022.

Just to start, Amazon is looking to take up “at least 100,000 square feet or much more,” one source told the Post. Brookfield denied that it was leasing to Bezos’ firm and Amazon declined to comment.

Amazon — which already has offices at 5 Manhattan West — may first move into One Manhattan West on a temporary basis, before switching to Two Manhattan West when that building is ready for tenants. The firm is reportedly looking to take up space at the very top of the latter $2 billion tower, which Brookfield decided to move ahead with this January before securing any tenants.

The tech company is also looking at Vornado Realty Trust’s Farley Post Office redevelopment across the street, sources told the Post. Vornado CEO Steve Roth hinted at a possible shift toward tech tenants at the development in an earnings calls earlier this year.

Meanwhile, New York City officials are currently considering the possibility of bringing another megadevelopment to Queens as a replacement for the planned Amazon campus.

Supporters of Amazon’s HQ2 plan say that the tech giant’s Manhattan move won’t be nearly as impactful as it would have been in LIC.

“The investment in Long Island City was going to create a whole cluster of activity around it,” Partnership for New York City CEO Kathryn Wylde told the Post. “No one is going to have that same impact in Manhattan unless you go to Upper Manhattan.” [NYP] — Kevin Sun