Amazon checks out Colorado.
Company officials have visited the metro area as part of an evaluation for its second headquarters.
A 10-person team from Amazon has visited the metro Denver area to learn more about whether the city should become home to the company’s second headquarters, local officials said Tuesday.
“They visited the metro Denver area at the end of January to early February to conduct a comprehensive visit as a followup to our first proposal to HQ2,” said Sam Bailey, vice president of economic development for the Metro Denver Economic Development Corp., which is handling the state’s official bid. “We chose not to disclose this information until we submitted our second round of HQ2, which was submitted (Monday).”
Amazon officials, who had been in town for three days, toured the area, rode the University of Colorado A-Line and met with local business leaders.
The state has shared few details ever since Amazon, which is based in Seattle, named Colorado’s bid as one of 20 HQ2 finalists in mid-January. But other finalists, including Toronto and Washington, D.C., have confirmed that they, too, were visited by Amazon’s HQ2 hunting team as it looks for a new city to invest $5 billion and add a 50,000 workforce. Bailey believes Amazon visited all the finalists.
“We provided them with a comprehensive community tour as well as an opportunity to sit down and have a defined conversation about the project,” Bailey said. “We did have some opportunities for them to connect with peer companies and to hear more about their experiences of growing a business here.”
Bailey wouldn’t name names, but local business and community leaders have shown their support for Amazon through the grassroots campaign Colorado Loves Amazon. That includes Bryan Leach, the founder and CEO of consumer-shopping app Ibotta, which has 500 employees.
“I feel it’s extremely important for the Front Range to have Amazon here. Companies like Ibotta are extremely dependent on attracting future talent and we view Amazon as a net benefit that will help import talent,” said Leach, who confirmed that he was one of the business leaders who met with the HQ2 team.
The experience was part of an opportunity for both sides to ask each other questions and learn each other’s intentions.
Leach said Amazon’s team got a heavy dose of the local community, including its food and lifestyle. But he declined to share
details of where the visit took place.
Leach said he doesn’t believe’s Denver’s location is a detriment. Three-fourths of the finalists are in the Eastern time zone, with the Washington, D.C., region having three areas as finalists. Gov. John Hickenlooper has previously said that he felt Denver’s chances are low because Amazon wants a location on the East Coast.
“It was something the governor and I and others had talked about as a concern, but to hear Amazon talk about it, it doesn’t sound like they would have us in the running if that was a disqualifier,” Leach said. “They were pretty clear about that: ‘Why would we come visit with (Denver)? We know where you are.’ “
Metro Denver became the only region Colorado pitched to Amazon because of Amazon’s HQ2 minimal requirements, including 45minute proximity to an international airport, a population of at least 1 million people and access to public transportation. The state offered 30 urban and suburban properties, with eight featured as potential HQ2 locations. The state will not share the eight sites.
While the city of Aurora, which already has an Amazon distribution center and a sorting facility, believes a property there is among the sites, economic development officials there have been left out of the secretive selection process.
“We have not been involved in any of those (latest) activities,” said Andrea Tilliss, who is with the Aurora Economic Development Council. She acknowledged that when companies are searching for a new location, the process is typically secretive until decisions are made.
Bailey said the documents submitted Monday are “much more granular” in answering Amazon’s questions about education, talent and the community. The actual locations weren’t the prime reason for the visit.
“Viewing the real estate was part of the visit to Colorado, but they were much more focused on the community and work we’ve been doing on diversity and inclusivity and the work that we’re focused on as a growing community,” Bailey said. “For a global company like Amazon, they want to know whether they can attract someone from India or South America or Mexico and if there is a welcoming community here.”
Denver scored an “A” on a recent review of local and state LGBT protections among the 20 HQ2 finalists. The review was conducted by John Schneider and David Auten, finance bloggers at Denver-based DebtFreeGuys.com. Also scoring an “A” were Boston, Chicago, New York City, Toronto and Maryland’s Montgomery County. By comparison, Nashville, Tenn., Raleigh, N.C., and Northern Virginia each scored a “F” because they had little to no local protections.
“Amazon has historically supported the LGBT community and its LGBT employees,” Schneider wrote in an email. “In its original request for proposal, it stated it was looking for a city with a cultural fit and a diverse population.”
Amazon said it will name the site of its second headquarters in 2018. Bailey believes that there will be another elimination process before that day arrives.