Hub enters Amazon HQ sweepstakes
State and city officials are preparing to compete for a massive, 50,000-employee Amazon facility after the e-commerce giant said it would build a second headquarters in North America — but they might have trouble finding enough room to build its new campus.
“We’re laser focused on this,” Mayor Martin J. Walsh said yesterday. “I intend on pulling a team together to talk about it. It’s an incredible opportunity.”
Amazon.com Inc. announced yesterday it is seeking proposals from cities and states in North America for a second headquarters. Amazon wants an urban center with a strong university presence, a highly skilled workforce, a stable business climate, and access to public transportation.
Michelle Hillman, the state’s economic development spokeswoman, said, “We look forward to engaging stakeholders and presenting a convincing argument as to why Amazon should choose Massachusetts for its second U.S. headquarters.”
Amazon’s “HQ2” could be up to 8 million square feet and would easily be the largest project in the state, with the most employees in one place. The Wynn Boston Harbor, the state’s largest development to date, is expected to be 3.2 million square feet. Partners Healthcare, the state’s largest employer, has 73,000 employees statewide, with 25,000 at its biggest location, Massachusetts General Hospital.
Among the few possible sites in the immediate Boston area are Suffolk Downs, already earmarked mostly for housing, and Harvard University’s Allston Brighton development, which Harvard is unlikely to relinquish given its own expansion needs. Amazon said it is seeking 500,000 square feet for phase one of the project, and a roughly 100-acre site for phase two.
“I don’t think you could have a location in Somerville, Cambridge or Boston,” said David Begelfer, chief executive of commercial real estate organization NAIOP Massachusetts. “It’s very tempting to say we attracted a campus like that, but that doesn’t mean we have the capability.”