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Amazon Chooses 20 Finalists for Second Headquarters Amazon Chooses 20 Finalists for Second Headquarters
(about 3 hours later)
SEATTLE — Amazon said on Thursday that it had whittled the list of possible homes for its second headquarters to 20, including centers of technology like Boston and some surprise locations like Columbus, Ohio. SEATTLE — Like a college applicant waiting for that special message in the mail, officials in Boston got what they wanted on Thursday: a cryptic four-sentence note informing them that the city made the finals in its bid to host Amazon’s second headquarters.
The full list of finalists leans toward locations in the Midwest and South and on the East Coast, and away from the tech-saturated hubs of the West Coast. It includes: “We would like to move Boston forward in the process so we can continue to learn more about your community, your talent, and potential real estate options,” Holly Sullivan, an Amazon executive, wrote in the note. “Please email me back with available times for a call so we can discuss next steps.”
Atlanta Boston was one of 20 places in the United States and Canada that made Amazon’s list, joining cities that had been widely expected to make the cut, like Denver and Dallas, and surprises like Nashville and Columbus, Ohio.
Austin, Tex. The winner could get up to 50,000 high-paying jobs and $5 billion in investment, figures that Amazon has dangled in front of local officials, setting off an unprecedented competition to be the second home for one of the internet’s mightiest companies. In all, 238 cities and regions applied to bring the company to town, many using promises of tax breaks and public charm offensives to gain favor with the e-commerce giant.
Boston The finalists include places like Newark, where the local economy has struggled for decades, and hip centers like Miami and Austin, Tex. For other cities, like Los Angeles and New York, luring Amazon would cement their place as centers of the tech industry.
Chicago The other finalists are Atlanta; Chicago; Indianapolis; Montgomery County, Md.; Northern Virginia; Philadelphia; Pittsburgh; Raleigh, N.C.; Washington and Toronto — the only one outside the United States.
Columbus, Ohio Officials from the 20 locations celebrated their selections and, in most cases, reiterated their pitches for why Amazon should ultimately pick them. Ras Baraka, mayor of Newark, said Amazon would have “a tremendous social and economic impact on this city, state and region by coming to Newark.”
Dallas Kathleen Wynne, the premier of Ontario, the province where Toronto is located, reacted with what could be perceived as a dig at her American competitors. Toronto was the “obvious choice” for Amazon, in part because of Canada’s universal health care system and its openness to immigrants, she said.
Denver “We are already welcoming the best and brightest talent from around the world — no matter where you come from, you are welcome and you will feel at home in Ontario,” Ms. Wynne said.
Indianapolis Many of the cities selected had been considered shoo-ins from the moment Amazon announced the search in September, largely because they closely matched the attributes that the company said it wanted in a second home, which it is calling HQ2. Those criteria included a metropolitan area with a population greater than one million and the ability to attract and keep strong technical talent.
Los Angeles But there were several surprise snubs, too. Amazon rejected applications from Detroit, Phoenix and San Diego, plus all the bids from Mexico. The list leaned east, away from the tech-saturated hubs of the West Coast.
Miami “Getting from 238 to 20 was very tough — all the proposals showed tremendous enthusiasm and creativity,” Ms. Sullivan, Amazon’s head of economic development, said in a statement. “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.”
Montgomery County, Md. Amazon shrouded its selection process in secrecy. On Thursday, the company said little about how it had pared down the list, other than to say it based its choices on the criteria it laid out for the search earlier.
Nashville The process was conducted by a team of about a dozen people within Amazon, including economists, human resources managers and executives who oversee real estate, according to people briefed on the process who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the deliberations were private. Jeff Bezos, Amazon’s chief executive who was the mastermind behind turning the search into a public process and coined the term “HQ2,” was also involved, the people said.
Newark The veil of secrecy kept even the finalist cities in the dark until Thursday’s announcement.
New York Muriel Bowser, the mayor of Washington, was on her way into the office when a deputy mayor called and said that the city had made the Top 20. “I was, of course, pleased, but not that surprised because we know that Washington, D.C., matches what Amazon is looking for,” Ms. Bowser said.
Northern Virginia Hans Riemer, president of the Montgomery County Council, found out from a friend via text message.
Philadelphia “My heart skipped a beat,” he said.
Pittsburgh The process will now shift into a new phase, with Amazon representatives communicating more directly with the finalist cities as they prepare to select a winner later this year — and perhaps with cities being even more outspoken about why they should be chosen. Emissaries from Amazon are expected to visit the finalist locations in person.
Raleigh, N.C. Some of the finalists are neighbors, setting up what are likely to be intense regional rivalries. Ms. Bowser said Amazon’s selection of Montgomery County and Northern Virginia — both near Washington — spoke to the appeal of the region’s work force.
Toronto “Of course,” she added, “we believe that Washington, D.C. — with our top talent and world-class amenities — is the right place for Amazon HQ2.”
Washington, D.C. Mayor Baraka said that Newark has a “friendly rivalry” with its bigger neighbor, New York, while adding that his city enjoys the advantages of cheaper real estate, space for development in its downtown and lots of fiber optic network capacity.
Many of the finalists, including Dallas, Denver, Raleigh and Washington, were considered shoo-ins from the moment Amazon announced the search, largely because of the attributes that the company said it was seeking for its second home. (Read more about the finalists.) Those criteria included a metropolitan area with a population of greater than one million and the ability to attract and keep strong technical talent. Amazon needs a second headquarters because it’s bursting at the seams in its hometown, Seattle. Mr. Bezos founded the company there in 1994, and it has since transformed the city, employing more than 40,000 there. That expansion has also contributed to Seattle’s soaring cost of living and its traffic woes.
More unexpected was Amazon’s selection of locations not typically thought of as tech centers, such as Columbus, Indianapolis, Miami and Nashville. Los Angeles was the sole city from the West Coast to make the cut. To lure applicants, Amazon showered local politicians with its own data about the effect the company has had on the Seattle economy, and some of the immediate economic benefits its second home would experience — including $5 billion in construction spending.
Just as surprising was Amazon’s rejection of applications from Detroit, Phoenix and San Diego. Although it received bids from regions in Mexico, Amazon narrowed its finalists to just American locations and one city in Canada, Toronto. It asked candidates to include in their bids a variety of detailed information, including potential building sites, crime and traffic stats and nearby recreational opportunities. Amazon also asked cities and states to describe the tax incentives available to offset its costs for building and operating its second headquarters. The most eye-popping of those offers was New Jersey’s promise of up to $7 billion in tax incentives to bring Amazon to Newark.
Terry McAuliffe, the former governor of Virginia, celebrated the acceptance of his state’s bid in a message on Twitter. “Let’s close the deal and bring it home!” he wrote. Another tech giant, Apple, this week said it, too, was hunting for a location to build a major new campus. But the company’s chief executive, Tim Cook, said it would not conduct a public bidding process akin to Amazon’s. He said California and Texas were unlikely locations for the new campus because Apple already has significant operations there.
The company, based in Seattle, selected the finalists out of a pile of more than 238 applications submitted by local officials in Mexico, Canada and the United States — all of them eager to attract the 50,000 high-paying jobs the company says it could bring. When the unusual public contest was announced, it set off a public charm offensive by the applicants, with many local officials trying to entice Amazon with tax breaks and other benefits. Amazon’s search process has also attracted critics. Stacy Mitchell, co-director of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, a nonprofit organization that serves as an advocate for local businesses, said that politicians were enhancing Amazon’s image just as the company’s market power was under growing scrutiny from groups like her own.
The process will now shift into a new phase, with Amazon representatives communicating more directly with finalist cities as they prepare to select a winner later this year, and perhaps with cities being even more outspoken about why they should be chosen.
“Getting from 238 to 20 was very tough — all the proposals showed tremendous enthusiasm and creativity,” said Holly Sullivan, Amazon’s head of economic development. “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 provided little detail about how it picked the finalists for its second headquarters, which it is calling HQ2, other than to say it based it choices on the criteria it laid out for the search earlier.
According to people briefed on the process who would speak only anonymously because the deliberations were private, the process was conducted by a team of about a dozen people within Amazon, including economists, human resources managers and executives who oversee real estate. Jeff Bezos, Amazon’s chief executive who was the mastermind behind turning the search into a public process and coined the term “HQ2,” was also involved, the people said. (Our recent look at Mr. Bezos’s growing public profile.)
Amazon said in its initial announcement that it needed a second headquarters because it would soon outgrow its hometown, Seattle. Mr. Bezos founded the company there in 1994, and it has since transformed Seattle, employing more than 40,000 in the city. That expansion has also contributed to the city’s soaring cost of living and traffic woes.
To lure applicants, Amazon showered local politicians with its own data about the impact the company has had on the Seattle economy and some of the immediate economic benefits related to its new home, including plans to spend $5 billion for construction of its second headquarters.
It asked candidates to include in their bids a variety of detailed information about the area, including potential building sites, crime and traffic stats and nearby recreational opportunities. And it asked cities and states to describe the tax incentives available to offset Amazon’s costs for building and operating its second headquarters.
The response prompted a wave of publicity stunts by cities that surprised even Amazon (We detailed some of the lengths that local leaders were going to in their quest for what one called “the Holy Grail.”)
A business group in Tucson trucked a giant cactus to Amazon in Seattle, and the mayor of Washington buttered up Amazon in a promotional video in which she called it the “most interesting company in the world.” An economic development group in Calgary, Alberta, took out an advertisement in The Seattle Times in which it offered to fight a bear for Amazon and spray-painted Seattle sidewalks with a humorous promise to change the city’s name to Calmazon or Amagary.
There were also more serious offers, including a commitment of up to $7 billion in tax incentives by New Jersey to bring Amazon to Newark. (We gave the bid by New Jersey’s largest city a close look.) Officials in Chicago offered Amazon tax credits that would allow it to keep about $1.32 billion in income taxes that employees would ordinarily pay to the state, according to a report by The Chicago Reader.
(In September, our colleagues at The Upshot, after assessing Amazon’s needs, predicted that Denver would ultimately emerge as the winner.)
The process has also attracted critics. Stacy Mitchell, co-director of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, a nonprofit organization that serves as an advocate for local businesses, said that local politicians were enhancing Amazon’s image just as the company’s market power was under growing scrutiny from groups like her own.
“As these cities woo and grovel, they are basically communicating this idea that we should want Amazon to be bigger and more powerful in our economy,” Ms. Mitchell said.“As these cities woo and grovel, they are basically communicating this idea that we should want Amazon to be bigger and more powerful in our economy,” Ms. Mitchell said.
In an interview before Amazon announced its list of finalists, Ras Baraka, the mayor of Newark, said Amazon, long criticized in Seattle for its role in a booming economy that has displaced lower-income residents and minorities, had an opportunity to make a statement by selecting a less fortunate city for its new headquarters. Ed Glaeser, a professor of economics at Harvard who studies cities, predicted that the winner of the contest would have in place the kind of positive economic attributes that mean it wouldn’t necessarily need Amazon to thrive.
“There’s an opportunity to turn the page here and create a new narrative for the company,” he said. “At its best, the competition for Amazon has spurred cities to think about how to improve their quality of life more generally,” he said. “At its worst, the competition has become a distraction and a contest for throwing cash at the giant.”