Search for Amazon’s HQ2 hits the nitty-gritty time
Company has toured half of 20 finalist cities
SAN FRANCISCO – And you thought cleaning up before the in-laws come over is nerve-racking.
The 20 finalist cities in Amazon’s second headquarters search are in the midst of a grueling series of visits by company executives as each makes its play for the high-tech jobs bonanza the Seattle company has pledged.
So far, Amazon staff have visited about half, with more trips scheduled for April and beyond. The company plans to make a decision by Dec. 31, barring some huge upset, and once it’s made, hiring in the anointed town will begin in 2019.
The continent-wide beauty contest (Toronto’s in the mix) comes even as a group of influential economists and planners have created a petition urging cities to reject the retail behemoth’s demands for incentives.
Amazon launched a public search for a second headquarters site on Sept. 7. It asked North American cities to send in proposals, saying it preferred candidates with a business-friendly environment, a highly educated labor pool, strong transportation options, cultural fit and a good quality of life.
It’s a potentially rich catch. Amazon plans to spend $5 billion building the new headquarters and says it expects to hire 50,000 well-paid high-tech workers to work there.
The 50,000 jobs are just the beginning, says Enrico Moretti, an economics
Amazon plans to make a decision by Dec. 31, barring some huge upset.
professor at the University of California-Berkeley.
All those highly paid workers will themselves need doctors, teachers, waiters, carpenters, designers and shop clerks.
“My research suggests the indirect job number could be four to five times larger — on the order to 250,000,” Moretti said.
That wasn’t lost on the nation’s cities. A stunning 238 locations submitted preliminary bids. Amazon sorted through them and in January announced a short list of 20, 19 in the U.S. and one in Canada.
But the process since then has been cryptic. Cities have signed non-disclosure agreements and in general fought to keep information about their offerings private, in part because they don’t want other cities to know what they’re offering. Amazon also isn’t saying much. “Amazon is working with each HQ2 candidate city to dive deeper on their proposals and share additional information about the company’s plans,” spokesman Adam Sedo said.
The William Shatner welcome mat
❚ Atlanta got its Amazon close-up last week.It has touted its educated workforce, low housing costs and business-friendly government. However, it has been dinged by No Gay, No Way, for not having legal protections for the LGBT community.
❚ Austin and Dallas got their Amazon visits at the beginning of March. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said he believes either city would be a “perfect fit” for Amazon.
❚ Chicago hosted the Amazon team for two days the week of March 19. One blip in the process was a pre-tour graffiti clean-up blitz that mistakenly destroyed a piece of wall art by French street artist Blek le Rat across from Lincoln Yards, a 70-acre riverfront site that’s one of Chicago’s prime contenders.
Chicago was not above playing hardball. It hired actor William Shatner, aka Captain Kirk, to narrate a video. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos is a serious Star Trek fan.
❚ Denver had a 10-person group tour the city the last week of January. Little has been revealed about the visit.
❚ New York City and Newark are rumored to be gearing up for an Amazon foray in April, according to Bisnow, a local business news site. The Star-Ledger reported the trip was originally slated for the first week of March but weather — in fact, a blizzard — caused it to be rescheduled.
❚ Philadelphia got a visit, but it’s not exactly clear when. Mayor Jim Kenney told the Philadelphia Inquirer that the Seattle team came for about a day and a half, but wouldn’t say what they did.
❚ The Washington, D.C., area has three separate areas vying for the Amazon headquarters: Washington, D.C., itself, Montgomery County, Md., and Northern Virginia. All got visits the first week of March.