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One Court Square in LIC Takes Huge Financial Hit After Amazon HQ2 Pullout

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While most people have moved on from the Amazon HQ2 news once the company decided to turn around and leave town after all the fanfare of Amazon bringing a new headquarters to Queens, some commercial properties have suffered. One Court Square’s landlord expected to cash in on the move because Amazon was going to use approximately 1 million square feet of office space at the property, Crain’s reports. Citibank is also expected to leave One Court Square next year, which makes the Amazon pull-out that much more devastating for One Court Square’s landlord.

Savanna, the company responsible for the towering structure, has been able to find willing tenants for up to half a million square feet, though that best-case scenario would still leave about two-thirds of the building without tenants. Crain’s reports that Centene Corporation is trying to work out a deal with Savanna in order to get 500,000 square feet of office space at One Court Square.

Centene, a healthcare company based out of St. Louis, also bought Fidelis for about $4 billion last year. Fidelis is based in Queens, which makes the purchase of office space in Long Island City a logical way for Centene to expand and take advantage of its recent healthcare acquisition. Crain’s explains that there’s particular significance in the entire situation for Centene because the city has a widespread Medicaid management care market. That’s great news for Centene, which is the largest Medicaid managed care organization in the country, because it can do tap right into these markets by using Fidelis, which has sold healthcare for about 30 years in New York.

Crain’s further suggested that the Fidelis acquisition and One Court Square office space were related by citing a source who said Fidelis could very well move from Rego Park to the tower in Long Island City.

Chris Schlank, Savanna’s chief executive, was upset with the way the state and city leaders, particularly Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio, managed the situation. He felt that they both fell short of expectations by not keeping the deal held together.

“It’s going to take a very long time to repair the damage [from Amazon’s exit],” Schlank said in an interview.

The Jewish Voice has reported extensively on the Amazon HQ2 saga. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was the most commonly blamed ‘villain’ in Amazon’s decision to scrap plans for a second headquarters in NYC, according to a poll released on March 18th. New York state voters polled by Siena College, were asked who was the “hero,” “villain” or “role player” in the failed Amazon HQ2 move into Long Island City, Queens. “Who do New Yorkers blame? Well, there’s certainly blame enough to go around … However, voters say the biggest villain was Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez,” revealed pollster Steven Greenberg.

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