Bidding for Amazon HQ2 has some weight behind it
The joint bid by Detroit and Windsor for internet retail giant Amazon’s second North American headquarters will tout the two cities’ international border.
“Detroit is the only city competing for Amazon’s headquarters that not only sits on an international border but the busiest international border of one of our country’s largest trading partners,” Quicken Loans founder Dan Gilbert said in a statement Monday.
“Amazon will be able to draw employees from two countries rich in technology talent with diverse backgrounds while cementing it as the first major company in the world whose headquarters would literally share an international border,” Gilbert said.
“That’s why we are very excited to work with Windsor to bring Amazon to our shared border.”
Gilbert is a key figure in Motown’s remarkable comeback and the man tasked by Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan to lead the bid.
Detroit has requested a media blackout on the bid here, asking municipalities and other organizations to decline requests for interviews. They’ve also been asked not to tweet or post anything on social media even showing their support for the bid.
City officials here confirmed that Windsor will partner with Detroit to submit a joint, binational bid that they believe will be not only competitive but unique, the Star has learned.
Officials from Windsor met with representatives of the Detroit Economic Growth Corp. and Gilbert’s real estate company, Bedrock Detroit, on Friday and with Gilbert again Monday.
Windsor is currently working on identifying potential sites here. Mayor Drew Dilkens has suggested the city could offer waterfront land to complement a potential waterfront site in Detroit.
The city is also compiling the data requested in Amazon’s eight-page request for proposals, including information about the local workforce, schools from kindergarten to college and university, business, infrastructure, quality of life and amenities and even sustainability, said to be important to the company. This region will provide data beyond Windsor and Essex County as far as London.
The city will also work with the provincial and federal governments to identify incentives to be offered in the bid.
The entire package is to demonstrate the value that Windsor can add to Detroit.
The effort in Windsor includes not only the city and county but the economic development corporation, chamber of commerce, Workforce Windsor-Essex, the university and college, technology accelerator WEtech Alliance, port authority, tourism bureau and conservation authority. All are being asked for data, anecdotes and articles to highlight this region’s advantages.
Detroit and Windsor — along with about 100 other cities vying for the headquarters — have six weeks to complete their bid. Amazon announced the project Sept. 7. The deadline is Oct. 19. While that is considered tight, both cities here are pouring tremendous resources into the bid, the Star has learned.
The bid is being led by the city, the Detroit Regional Chamber and the Michigan Economic Development Corp. and includes Oakland County executive L. Brooks Patterson.
“He has really worked to reach out to his counterparts across the region,” Detroit Regional Chamber CEO Sandy Baruah said of Duggan.
Baruah called Gilbert “the highest possible profile chair, someone who can talk to (Amazon founder and CEO) Jeff Bezos as a peer.” Gilbert isn’t just a figurehead in the bid. “He’s intimately engaged in this,” Baruah said.
“This is one of the most highly prized economic development projects that has come along in a long time,” he said. “That’s why we’re handling this one differently. “
Amazon is looking for eight million square feet of office space and 50,000 employees, everyone from software engineers to lawyers and accountants, over 10 to 15 years. The total investment is estimated at $5 billion. That wouldn’t all be in downtown Detroit, Duggan told the Free Press. It won’t even be all in one city, he said. The company has 33 buildings in Seattle, where it’s based. So Detroit believes that if it moves here, the company could expand throughout the region.
The bi-national access to talent will be “one of our key selling points,” Baruah said.
“We don’t want to look at the talent pool that’s just in Michigan or this side of the river. We want to look at the entire region,” he said, citing the thousands of medical professionals and engineers from Windsor who already work in Detroit.
Amazon’s offices in Seattle already employ Canadians from Vancouver, he said. Canada is also a prime growth opportunity for Amazon, he said.
“So one of our positions is that Detroit is a fantastic place to base a Canadian operation out of,” he said.
Some say Canada could provide easier access to global talent because of uncertainty about immigration and visas in the United States, but others say Amazon might want to be careful about being perceived as giving American jobs to Canadians.
The company is also looking for incentives from all levels of government. Initial and ongoing costs are “critical decision drivers,” according to the RFP, which calls for highly detailed information about every type of incentive, from land to taxes, workforce grants, utilities and fees. A bi-national bid could offer incentives from both cities, Michigan and Ontario.
Windsor can also offer a lower cost of living for Amazon employees who live here. Their salaries will also go 25 to 30 per cent farther because of the lower Canadian dollar.
The region also offers easy access to the trails, beaches and wineries of the county.
“Any issue you look at,” said Baruah, “if it’s talent, if it’s access to universities, if it’s the potential for incentives, we’re stronger when we do this together. Any time we can present a stronger, more unified voice, the better our chances are to be successful.”
And the international flavour and talk of a cable car linking the two cities — that’s just cool, said a source.
We don’t want to look at the talent pool that’s just in Michigan or this side of the river.