Over the last year, Amazon has dangled in front of cities the possibility that they could host the company's "second headquarters"—a massive $5 billion facility that would provide 50,000 white-collar jobs. On Tuesday, Amazon confirmed what had been widely reported : nobody would be getting this massive prize. Instead, the expansion would be split in half, with New York City and Arlington, Virginia, (just outside Washington, DC) each getting smaller facilities that will employ around 25,000 people each.

Amazon's Seattle offices will continue to be the company's largest and will continue to be Amazon's headquarters by any reasonable definition. But pretending to have three "headquarters" undoubtedly makes it easier for Amazon to coax taxpayer dollars out of local governments.

The announcement is underwhelming in other ways, too. The Washington, DC, area has been widely seen as the frontrunner since the competition was announced last year. When Amazon announced a list of 20 finalists, the region claimed three of those 20 spots, with separate entries for Northern Virginia; Montgomery County, Maryland; and the district itself. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos bought The Washington Post in 2013 and bought the largest house in Washington, DC, in 2016.

Meanwhile, the New York metro area is home to the second-largest concentration of technology talent after the San Francisco Bay Area, and Bezos owns a home in Manhattan. Amazon listed Newark, New Jersey, in addition to New York City itself, among its 20 finalists—a sign that the New York area was also getting serious consideration.

The New York and Washington, DC, metropolitan areas enjoy a disproportionate share of the nation's high-paying jobs and suffer from some of the region's highest housing costs. The decisions to create Amazon jobs there won't have a big impact on either region, but at the margin it will widen the gap between the nation's most prosperous cities and everywhere else. In choosing these two cities, Amazon rejected cities like Columbus, Indianapolis, and Philadelphia that really could have used an infusion of high-paying jobs.

The decision will do nothing to rebut critics who charged that Amazon's "HQ2" search was little more than a cynical shell game to extract maximum economic concessions from cities. Pursuing simultaneous negotiations with more than a dozen other cities gave Amazon maximum leverage in its negotiations with officials in the Washington, DC, and New York metropolitan areas.

The tactic seems to have worked, as governments in both locations have offered Amazon hundreds of millions of dollars in incentives to locate their new offices there. Virginia officials appear to have driven a harder bargain than their rivals in New York. Amazon says it's getting $1.5 billion in government incentives for its New York expansion, whereas Virginia is offering a comparatively modest $573 million in direct incentives.

The Virginia site is well served by transportation options

Amazon's new facilities in Washington, DC, will be stretched out along the DC Metro's Yellow and Blue lines (which run along the same track in this part of the system). These lines cross the Potomac River from Washington, DC, to Virginia, then run south along the Virginia side of the Potomac. They pass by the Pentagon and the Ronald Reagan National Airport before continuing to the DC suburbs.

Amazon's new offices will be centered in Crystal City, a cluster of 1960s-style concrete office and apartment towers directly to the west of the airport. Amazon will have additional space available further south in the Potomac Yards neighborhood—a former big-box retail area that's in the process of being converted into a high-density mixed-use neighborhood. Officials are in the process of adding an additional Yellow line subway stop here, and all this new construction will give Amazon an opportunity to shape the area to fit its needs.

Amazon and regional officials have invented the term National Landing to describe the area around the airport that encompasses both Crystal City and Potomac Yards.

Amazon's request for proposals emphasized the need for excellent transportation options, and this site definitely delivers. Its location along the Yellow and Blue subway lines means that Amazon employees will have the option to live either in the Virginia suburbs to the south or in the district itself. The site is directly adjacent to a major airport and not far from the 395 freeway.

Amazon says that it will get $573 million in direct subsidies for its Virginia headquarters, with much of that money dependent on Amazon actually delivering the promised jobs in the area. Virginia will also spend almost $200 million to improve transportation infrastructure in the area around Amazon's new offices.

Long Island City location draws opposition

Amazon's New York offices will be in the Queens neighborhood of Long Island City. This neighborhood has a lot in common with Virginia's Crystal City. Just as Crystal City is just across the Potomac from Washington, DC, so Long Island City is just across the East River from Manhattan. It's relatively close—15 to 45 minutes, depending on traffic—to New York's LaGuardia airport.

Long Island City is located just across the river from Midtown Manhattan and has "some of the best transit access in New York City, with eight subway lines, 13 bus lines, commuter rail, a bike-sharing service, and ferries serving the area," as Amazon puts it in its announcement.

Amazon's arrival in New York City has attracted opposition from some local officials, including some city council members representing Long Island City.

"Offering massive corporate welfare from scarce public resources to one of the wealthiest corporations in the world at a time of great need in our state is just wrong," said state Senator Michael Gianaris and City Council Member Jimmy Van Bramer in a joint statement.