Amazon ♥s New York. The Feeling Is Mutual.

Amazon is expanding its footprint in New York City, yet again.

On Thursday, the giant web retailer announced it has leased a 360,000 square feet of office space from Brookfield in Midtown. Amazon says there will be space for 2,000 workers, including engineers, data analysts, and economists.

The company currently employs 1,800 people in New York City, with a midtown administrative office, a bookstore in Columbus Circle and a photo studio in Brooklyn. Earlier this month, Amazon shared plans to open its first logistics center in New York State, near the Goethals Bridge in Staten Island.

Now, city and state officials have their eyes on a bigger prize: a second North American Headquarters, dubbed by Amazon “HQ2.” The company already has a home campus in Seattle. In its request for proposals, Amazon says HQ2 could bring $5 billion in investments and 50,000 new jobs.

“Amazon did this very smartly,” said Alicia Glen, New York's deputy mayor for economic development. “They want cities to be the respondents to the RFP. And so we need to develop a mechanism through which we could vet all of the unbelievably interesting ideas that are out there.”

Glen said New York’s strategic advantage is a large workforce with skills in finance and media, plus a strong transportation network. One disadvantage for New York: there's not a lot of buildable land. Amazon says HQ2 could ultimately grow to eight million square feet. The city is requesting proposals for HQ2 locations.

Amazon’s RFP also says subsidies “to offset initial capital outlay and ongoing operational costs will be significant factors in the decision-making process.” The de Blasio administration is opposed to large subsidies.

“Our view of this has been really for the past 20 years that New York City itself is the draw and we don’t need to put together discretionary incentive packages to lure a company like Amazon,” Glen said.

Still, the state government has no such qualms. This month alone, Amazon got pledges of close to $40 million dollars in tax breaks from Empire State Development, to support the midtown office and the Staten Island warehouse.