CRYSTAL CITY, Va -- Crystal City is right across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C. -- and soon, it will really be on the map, as the only home of Amazon’s East Coast Headquarters.

 “Ultimately I think our community will benefit a whole lot more than it would had this opportunity not come,” says Christian Dorsey, chairman of the Arlington County Board.

Ten days after political opposition caused Amazon to reverse its decision to bring 25,000 jobs to New York, local officials here are voicing no second thoughts about the welcome mat it rolled out for the Internet giant. Amazon's abandonment of Queens means even more jobs for Virginia, which officials here are happy to accept -- not that there won't be growing pains.

“We’re going to have to work hard to manage the growth, as it would be if it were 250 companies coming with 100 jobs that would still require hard work but the benefits that can accrue to such a large section of our community absolutely make it worthwhile,” Dorsey says.

Back in November, Amazon picked Crystal City along with Long Island City in Queens for its corporate expansion. Like New York, Virginia offered incentives --$550 million in grants to the company and a billion dollars to upgrade local schools, colleges and essentials like fiber optic and electrical networks. 

The County is chipping in about $360 million toward road and mass transit upgrades, and the state is providing millions more for those improvements, too.

There is a concern whether this area can handle the stress of the tens of thousands of Amazon workers expected to come here, but county officials say this is something they had been anticipating for some time.

 “We were already in the process of planning and funding infrastructure to accommodate whatever that population and employment is. Amazon gives a name to a portion of that,” says Monica Backmon  of the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority.

Echoing arguments in New York, some local groups charge the money benefitting one of the world’s wealthiest companies could be put to better use. But that criticism never reached critical mass here.

Dino Annest, who lives in Seattle, Amazon's home base, visited Crystal City this week to check out the Amazon site. He says he understands both sides of the debate.

“It’s not just Amazon - there’s a lot of them. The prices have gone up dramatically and downtown is much more crowded than it used to be, but - it’s jobs,” he said.

For Virginia, at least 25,000 new jobs. A reality officials here are preparing for -- as New Yorkers continue to debate whether opponents in Queens were right to resist.