Columbus’ bid for Amazon HQ2 falls short
Company will open new outposts in Virginia, New York.
Columbus has come up short in its bid on the biggest economic-development project in a generation.
Amazon will open major new outposts in Northern Virginia’s Crystal City and in New York City, splitting its much-sought $5 billion investment and up to 50,000 jobs between the two East Coast sites, the company said Tuesday.
“These two locations will allow us to attract world-class talent that will help us to continue inventing for customers for years to come,” Amazon founder Jeff Bezos said in a statement. “The team did a great job selecting these sites, and we look forward to becoming an even bigger part of these communities.”
Seattle-based Amazon announced in September 2017 it wanted to build a second headquarters, a project it called HQ2, and opened up the competition to cities across North America.
The result was a frenzy among U.S. cities wanting a piece of the internet giant and what figured to be a transformative project for most regions.
Ultimately, 238 cities put in a bid, even many that didn’t meet Amazon’s requirement of having at least 1 million people.
Amazon narrowed that list to 20 finalists in January.
That Columbus made Amazon’s list of 20 finalists for the project turned some heads among many economic-development officials.
Despite the loss, making the list of finalists figures to benefit the region when it comes to other projects with Amazon and as a potential site for other companies looking to expand.
“We compete to win, and I’m disappointed when we don’t,” said Alex Fischer, president and CEO of the Columbus Partnership, a group of chief executives of local companies.
“That said, this process clearly underscored the strength of the Columbus 2020 and JobsOhio teams, the leadership of our city and our state, and the deep engagement of our corporate community. No other region stacks hands the way we do in order to accelerate progress. I am incredibly proud of that.”
Amazon’s growing relationship with the state and central Ohio was clearly a factor in Columbus getting this far in the competition.
“Columbus is America’s Opportunity City. We will continue to make this the best market in the world for our current companies, our future companies and our greatest asset: our residents.”
Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther said the city learned from the experience.
“I have never been more proud of the city of Columbus and its partners than during our bid for Amazon HQ2,” Ginther said in a statement.
“Our collaborative spirit is in high gear, and this process reinforced how well our region competes together. Amazon may not be building its next headquarters here, but the company remains an excellent partner with multiple facilities in central Ohio.”
Amazon has announced more than $2 billion in projects in Ohio since 2011, including plans released May 15 to build a distribution center in West Jefferson that will employ 1,500 people.
The West Jefferson project will become Amazon’s sixth major distribution center in Ohio and its third in the Columbus area after Obetz and Etna Township in Licking County. Amazon also has data centers in New Albany, Hilliard and Dublin, wind farms in northwest Ohio and air cargo operations at the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport outside of Cincinnati in Kentucky.
On Monday Amazon announced plans to open an air-transport and package-sorting facility in Wilmington in 2019.
It has become one of the state’s largest employers with more than 6,000 workers.
The project will demand 8 million square feet of space under one roof eventually, an area so massive it would be four times the size of the McCoy Center. That building, which is JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s operation at Polaris, already is one of the biggest office buildings in the U.S. In all, Chase has about 20,000 employees and contractors in central Ohio, using nearly 4 million square feet of space.
Columbus’ incentive package for the project included property-tax abatements, income-tax refunds and a transportation plan. The city has proposed land in Franklinton, the Scioto Peninsula, around the Ohio State University campus and Easton that Amazon could use.
New York City and Arlington County, Va., will gain 25,000 jobs apiece and a $2.5 billion investment from Amazon in coming years with hiring to begin next year.