Long Island City Waterfront Mixed-Use Development Economic Impact Analysis

JLP+D was contracted with a consortium of four of the largest real estate developers in New York City to assess the economic and fiscal benefits of a $7 billion-dollar, 10 million SF, multi-phased mixed-use development on the Long Island City waterfront, including on the former Amazon HQ2 site, including major investments in waterfront parks, resiliency measures, and district-wide network of green and sustainable infrastructure.

JLP+D used IMPLAN to model two scenarios of development, one predominantly residential and the other predominantly commercial, and projected their respective impact during construction and after build out, including direct, indirect, and induced economic impacts. For each scenario, multiple phases were considered for a year-by-year analysis. JLP+D estimated the number of employment, labor income, economic output, GDP, and tax income and presented the findings in a graphic report. To effectively communicate the economic benefit to elected officials, JLP+D produced a report that contextualized the level of impact in terms of public service equivalents (such as the salaries of public teachers and the annual budget of a city agency).