Amazon bypasses state in listing HQ2 finalists
Denver and Los Angeles are the only western cities in running for online retailer’s second headquarters
Phoenix, Tempe, Mesa and the rest of Arizona won’t be landing Amazon’s prized second headquarters — and the investment dollars, jobs and prestige that will come with it. The online retailing giant on Thursday named 20 finalists for the expansion project, and no Arizona candidates made the cut.
Phoenix, Tempe, Mesa and the rest of Arizona won’t be landing Amazon’s prized second headquarters — and the investment dollars, jobs and prestige that will come with it.
The online retailing giant on Thursday named 20 finalists for the coveted expansion project from the 238 proposals that were submitted in October. No Arizona candidates made the cut.
Amazon didn’t specify a geographic preference when it solicited bids from cities for its massive proposed second corporate headquarters, but the company clearly skewed its choices toward the eastern half of the country.
Only Denver and Los Angeles were named as finalists from the Mountain or Pacific time zones. By contrast, three proposals were selected from the area around Washington, D.C., plus two each from greater New York City, Texas and Pennsylvania.
Atlanta, Boston, Chicago and Miami are some of the other big-city finalists, along with Toronto, the only non-U.S. metro area.
“It’s a roundup of the usual suspects,” said Ron Starner, executive vice president at Conway Inc., publisher of
Site Selection magazine.
The magazine had polled industry experts about which cities they thought Amazon would select. The top 10 choices from the survey, published earlier this month, all were included among the retailers’ 20 finalists.
Still, Starner said he was surprised the Phoenix-metro area wasn’t selected, not to mention San Francisco or Silicon Valley, given Amazon’s focus on innovation and technology. Large swaths of the Midwest also were ignored.
“Geography does seem to have been a factor,” Starner said.
Amazon had said it wanted to select a large metro area with a good university system, an airport with extensive international connections and other characteristics.
Holly Sullivan, an Amazon spokeswoman, said the proposals showed creativity and enthusiasm, adding that the company learned about many communities across North America that it will
consider as locations for future infrastructure investments and job creation.
Amazon plans to make a final decision on its headquarters later this year.
Local economic-development officials took the news in stride.
Susan Marie, a spokeswoman for the Arizona Commerce Authority, issued a statement indicating that Arizona submitted a strong, statewide proposal and thanking Amazon for its consideration.
“Regardless of this decision, the economic outlook for Arizona is very bright as our population continues to increase and unemployment continues to decrease,” she said, vowing that the agency will pursue other opportunities and support growth of the state’s existing businesses.
A statement from Phoenix’s Community & Economic Development Department asserted that the city’s economy continues to expand with new hiring, especially in financial, professional and technology fields, and with rising wages.
Several Arizona cities submitted bids last fall, including Phoenix, Mesa and Tempe.
Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton had confirmed that Park Central Mall north of downtown Phoenix was one of the proposed sites, along with locations in Tempe on or near the Arizona State University campus, and in Mesa. However, few details of the Arizona proposals were divulged.
Amazon’s very public solicitation of proposals garnered an outpouring of bids and creative marketing ploys — from an editorial in the New York Times by the mayor of Gary, Indiana, to an offer by Stonecrest, Georgia, to cede 345 acres so that Amazon could carve out its own city.
An economic-development group in Tucson sent a hefty saguaro to Amazon’s headquarters in Seattle. The cactus was politely returned to Arizona.
Amazon’s naming of 20 finalists is likely to continue the media storm the original solicitation created and perhaps heighten the tax or other incentives cities are willing to pony up.
“Amazon is great about keeping its name front and center,” Starner said. “We’re used to seeing finalist lists (for headquarters or relocations) of between five and 10 entries.”