Study says Chattanooga among top 25 cities for Amazon 2nd HQ

Take that, Atlanta. You too, Nashville.

Chattanooga topped both those Southern cities in a new ranking of the best places for online retailer Amazon to put its second headquarters.

Chattanooga is No. 25 on the list of cities nationally, according to the New York City-based real estate consulting firm REIS. It used a similar scoring criteria that Amazon had indicated it planned to utilize to drive its decision, said REIS researcher Barbara Denham.

“[Chattanooga’s] probably not in consideration,” said Denham, though she added, “You never know.”

The Scenic City ranked high in the REIS criteria in cost of doing business, cost of living, and amenities and quality of life.

It scored lower in such areas as public transportation access, concentration of technology employment and access to higher education.

The Seattle-based internet retailer began its search for a second headquarters in September, pledging to create 50,000 new jobs and construction spending of more than $5 billion. Amazon received 238 proposals from cities and regions in North America.

However, Chattanooga never officially entered the sweepstakes for the project because it doesn’t meet several key needs sought by Amazon, according to the Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce.

Charles Wood, the business group’s vice president of economic development, cited several of those factors the city doesn’t meet: a metro population

of at least 1 million people, direct air service to key West Coast markets, and proximity to an international airport and major research university.

He said the Chamber answers 40 to 50 requests for proposals from companies annually. Wood said the Chamber views Amazon’s as “a unique opportunity for the community to think about how we compete for new jobs and investment and what are we willing to do to win.”

New York City headed the REIS list, followed by San Francisco, and Washington, D.C.

Chattanooga was one of only four Southern locations in the top 25. Suburban Virginia was No. 6, RaleighDurham, N.C., was No. 23 and Richmond, Va., was No. 24.

Denham said Chattanooga was included in the study even though it doesn’t meet some basic Amazon requirements because of the way REIS conducted its research.

She said REIS typically reports on office and apartment data in 82 metros across the country. Chattanooga is considered one of those primary metro areas and so it was included in the Amazon study, Denham said.

Not in the REIS top 25 were Atlanta and Nashville. Denham said Atlanta was ranked 47th, scoring low on transportation access and the costs of living and doing business there.

Nashville was put at No. 51, scoring “really poor” on public transportation and “not great” on technology employment, Denham said.

Wood mentioned incentives in wooing companies and said it would be interesting to see how Chattanooga would compete with cities such as Philadelphia that have offered up to $2 billion just from local government.

“As a community we have to ask ourselves how serious we are about growth, jobs and economic development, not only for projects like Amazon but also for the much smaller opportunities. After all, 50 jobs improve the lives of more than 50 families,” he said.