by Eric Lieberman
Amazon has whittled down its search for a city to be home of its next massive headquarters, known as HQ2.
“Amazon reviewed 238 proposals from across the U.S., Canada and Mexico to host HQ2,” a press release published Thursday reads. Now, there are only “20 metropolitan areas” still in consideration:
– Atlanta, GA
– Austin, TX
– Boston, MA
– Chicago, IL
– Columbus, OH
– Dallas, TX
– Denver, CO
– Indianapolis, IN
– Los Angeles, CA
– Miami, FL
– Montgomery County, MD
– Nashville, TN
– Newark, NJ
– New York City, NY
– Northern Virginia, VA
– Philadelphia, PA
– Pittsburgh, PA
– Raleigh, NC
– Toronto, ON
– Washington D.C.
Amazon originally announced in September that it was going to open another main office, and it wanted each city to essentially woo it for consideration.
The company said at the time it expects to invest more than $5 billion in construction while creating up to “50,000 high-paying jobs” just for direct employment. Construction and operation will likely require the hiring of tens of thousands more employees, which will also yield, according to Amazon, “additional investment in the surrounding community.”
It laid out particular preferences for the next prospective location, including: a metropolitan area with more than 1 million people (a choice that may vastly restrict its options), “a stable and business-friendly environment,” and “communities that think big and creatively.”
The first priority likely ruled out a number of bidding cities and towns and helped contribute to the narrowing down of prospects. Certain areas, like small towns, bent over backward for consideration. A Georgia city, for example, offered to change its name to Amazon if the tech conglomerate chose it.
“Thank you to all 238 communities that submitted proposals. Getting from 238 to 20 was very tough – all the proposals showed tremendous enthusiasm and creativity,” said Holly Sullivan, who is a leader in Amazon’s public policy department. “Through this process, we learned about many new communities across North America that we will consider as locations for future infrastructure investment and job creation.”
Amazon has consistently declined to offer any comment on what locations it may be leaning towards.
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