Colleges back region's bid for Amazon HQ2
Schools write letter to CEO in support of Dayton-area campaign.
Dayton, Cincinnati and Columbus are among the Ohio cities that submitted proposals to lure Amazon’s $5 billion second headquarters, competing with 238 entries overall in North America.
The presidents of the University of Dayton, Wright State University, Sinclair College and Clark State Community College also signed a letter to Amazon president and CEO Jeff Bezos in support of the Dayton area’s bid for what’s being called HQ2.
“Together, we partner with top thought leaders worldwide to provide innovative, worldclass education to senior executives, emerging thought leaders and front-line supervisors and professionals,” the letter reads. “We absolutely pledge to do the same for Amazon.”
Amazon, based in Seattle, Wash., could employ 50,000 or more people with annual salaries of $100,000 or more at its second headquarters.
The company has increased its presence in Ohio.
Amazon has fulfillment centers in Etna and Obetz, and it recently announced plans to build new centers in Monroe and North Randall.
The Monroe center will offer 1 million square feet of space near Interstate 75 in Butler County and bring 1,000 jobs to the region.
Dayton’s proposal, led by the Dayton Development Coalition, outlined several potential sites in the region for Amazon to consider, and the city also collaborated with Cincinnati on its proposal by sharing data highlighting the strengths of the Dayton-Cincinnati region, said Dayton City Manager Shelley Dickstein.
“Keep in mind that we’re talking about 50,000 jobs, so should we win this bid, there will be people coming from both the Dayton and Cincinnati areas to work there,” Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley said this month.
T he Dayton region’s proposal notes Dayton’s position as the mid-point between Cincinnati and Columbus and the “rich resources” the three markets offer, Dayton Development Coalition President and CEO Jeff Hoagland said in a message to the coalition’s board of trustees this month.
The coalition declined to comment for this article, citing a nondisclosure agreement it signs with its clients.
Hoagland told the trustees that Dayton and Cincinnati did not submit a joint proposal.
He said the mayors of Dayton and Cincinnati discussed the possibility of a joint proposal, but development leaders ultimately decided to submit separate proposals for each region, though they did work collaboratively.
The Dayton-area colleges and universities pledged to partner with Amazon if it decides to build its second headquarters in southwest Ohio, according to documents obtained by this newspaper.
The letter from the school presidents says the Dayton region has 23 colleges and universities, including “some of the best” in the world.
Sinclair, Clark State, UD and WSU collaborate to benefit the region through education, training and workforce development programs, according to the letter.
More than 90 percent of the Dayton region’s largest employers work with educational institutions to develop their current and future work forces, and other important partners include Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, the Southern Ohio Council for Higher Education (SOCHE) and Ohio Department of Higher Education, the letter states.
In 2015 to 2016, SOCHE placed more than 15,000 students in internships across the region.
Proposals to Amazon were due Thursday. Cleveland and other Ohio communities also offered entries.