Amazon signs lease for office space in Manhattan to house over 1,500 employees

NEW YORK -- Amazon says it has signed a lease for a new office space in Manhattan to house more than 1,500 employees.

The lease was announced less than a year after the online retail giant scrapped a deal for a bigger headquarters in the borough of Queens expected to bring 25,000 jobs to the city.

Although smaller, the new lease renewed a debate over whether the $3 billion incentive package offered to Amazon for the Queens project was excessive and unnecessary.

Amazon pulled out of the Queens deal after politicians and activists protested the incentives.

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