Arlington says it's sticking to its Amazon plans

ARLINGTON, Va. -- Arlington, Virginia, doesn't expect its plans to build a new Amazon headquarters to change, even though Amazon has scuttled a plan to build a headquarters in New York.

After a yearlong search for second headquarters, Amazon announced in November that it would split its new headquarters between New York and Arlington, with both getting 25,000 jobs.

Arlington County Board Chairman Christian Dorsey said county officials spoke with Amazon earlier Thursday.

He said nothing has changed from Arlington's perspective, noting that the company's deal with Virginia always included a provision that would allow Amazon to bring up to 37,850 jobs over the next 20 years. Amazon said Thursday that it wasn't looking to replace New York at this time, but planned to continue hiring in other offices around the country and Canada.

Dorsey said the county would be able to accommodate that many Amazon jobs in its Crystal City neighborhood, and that county planners had long anticipated that kind of influx, whether from a single company like Amazon or a host of companies. The neighborhood, which is adjacent to the Pentagon, lost tens of thousands of government jobs a decade ago under a realignment of military facilities.

"We are moving forward as we had planned," Dorsey said. "Nothing has changed."