This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

Amazon is reconsidering plans for a new headquarters in New York amid a torrent of public opposition.

Is Bezos holding Seattle hostage? The cost of being Amazon's home Read more

Executives have had internal discussions about whether to proceed with the New York plan or explore alternatives, the Washington Post reported, citing two sources familiar with the company’s thinking.

In November, Amazon announced it would open a new campus in Long Island City, Queens, where it would employ 25,000 people in one of two major new offices planned after a national competition, the other going to Arlington, Virginia.

Supported by the New York governor, Andrew Cuomo, and the mayor, Bill de Blasio, the plan has faced a cascade of opposition from elected officials, activists and unions, angry that the company is set to get up to $3bn in tax breaks and subsidies.

The New York city councilman Jimmy Van Bramer, who represents the Queens neighborhood and opposes the deal, told the Guardian he had heard “some rumbling in the last few days” that “Amazon was teetering or rethinking”. One supporter of the deal he spoke to “seemed genuinely worried, and that led me to believe that it was real”, he said.

Van Bramer said he would be glad to see Amazon go.

“This whole thing has been bungled since day one by the mayor and the governor and Amazon,” he said. “Defeating an anti-union company is a victory. I think defeating a company that works with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) in terrorizing immigrants is a victory. I think defeating an unprecedented act of corporate welfare is absolutely a victory.”

Sign up for the US morning briefing

The company has drawn criticism for pitching Ice facial recognition technology it could use to identify immigrants.

Under grilling at a recent city council hearing – where he further angered critics by saying Amazon would oppose any effort by New York workers to unionize – company vice-president Brian Huseman dropped a veiled hint that the giant could pull out.

“We were invited to come to New York, and we want to invest in a community that wants us,” he said.

Amazon has not purchased land for the New York project and its agreement with the city and state is non-binding.

“The question is whether it’s worth it if the politicians in New York don’t want the project, especially with how people in Virginia and Nashville have been so welcoming,” a person familiar with the company’s plans told the Post.

But the company has not made the decision to withdraw, and the discussions could be seen as a threat to quiet the opposition.

Cuomo seized on the news to attack project opponents on Friday. “For the state senate to oppose Amazon was governmental malpractice. And if they stop Amazon from coming to New York, they’re going to have the people of the state of New York to explain it to,” he said at an event on Long Island.

“It is irresponsible to allow political opposition to overcome sound government policy. You’re not there to play politics, you’re there to do what’s right for the people of the state of New York.”

The Senate this week appointed a vocal critic, state senator Michael Gianaris, to a state board on which he would have veto power over the project.

“Amazon has extorted New York from the first day of this process, and this seems to be their latest effort to do that,” Gianaris told the Guardian on Friday. “If Amazon’s view is they’ll only come here if they get 3bn of our dollars, then they shouldn’t be here.”

Critics have argued the project would drive up rent and tax New York’s already troubled transit system. Such uproar has stood in contrast with the company’s reception in Virginia, which has been largely friendly.

Amazon has countered with its own effort to win over New Yorkers, sending out flyers to Queens residents touting its promises to create jobs and generate tax revenue.

“The mayor fully expects Amazon to deliver on its promise to New Yorkers,” De Blasio’s spokesman, Eric Phillips, said on Friday.

Despite the vocal opposition, opinion polls have found that a majority of New York voters support the new Amazon campus.

“It would be a real shame and a real loss for New York if we weren’t able to figure out a path forward here,” said Julie Samuels, executive director of Tech:NYC. “That sends a terrible message to all kinds of companies, tech and otherwise, who want to come here.”

An Amazon spokeswoman, Jodi Seth, said the company is “focused on engaging with our new neighbors – small business owners, educators and community leaders. Whether it’s building a pipeline of local jobs through workforce training or funding computer science classes for thousands of New York City students, we are working hard to demonstrate what kind of neighbor we will be.”

The Post is owned by Jeff Bezos, founder and chief executive of Amazon.