L.A. mayor is in ‘aggressive pursuit of this opportunity’
LOS ANGELES — Amazon.com Inc. is holding regular talks with Los Angeles city and county officials about the region’s bid to win the contest for Amazon’s $5-billion second headquarters.
The online shopping giant said in January that it had narrowed the list of contending metro areas to 20 finalists, including Los Angeles, from 238 initial proposals to land the headquarters, which Amazon said will be home to “as many as 50,000 high-paying jobs.”
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti previously has said Los Angeles is offering three sites to Amazon: two downtown and one at Warner Center in Woodland Hills.
The bid also offers six other sites in Los Angeles County, according to the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp., a nonprofit aimed at promoting business expansion in the region. The sites weren’t identified, but the Times has reported that Cal Poly Pomona and the Fairplex in Pomona are among those offering up land.
The other finalists include Atlanta; Austin, Texas; Boston; Chicago; Dallas; Denver; Indianapolis; Miami; New York; Philadelphia; Toronto; Washington, D.C.; Pittsburgh; Raleigh, N.C.; Nashville; Newark, N.J., and Columbus, Ohio. The list also includes northern Virginia and Maryland’s Montgomery County, both near Washington.
Los Angeles is the only finalist west of the Rocky Mountains in competition for the second headquarters, dubbed HQ2. Amazon’s existing headquarters is in Seattle, where it employs 40,000 workers spread among 33 buildings.
Amazon said it expects to make a decision this year but has not been more specific on when the winning metro area will be announced.
“We have been in consistent communication with Amazon about the details of our bid and we’re making a strong case that the company ought to choose L.A.,” Alex Comisar, a spokesman for Garcetti, said in a statement.
“Mayor Garcetti looks forward to continuing an aggressive pursuit of this opportunity as the process moves forward,” Comisar said. He declined to elaborate on the details of the region’s bid.
Amazon likewise declined comment on its conversations with Los Angeles officials but said in a statement that it is “working with each HQ2 candidate city to drive deeper on their proposals and share additional information about the company’s plans.”
Amazon executives in Southern California have not yet met personally with Garcetti but have held “several” meetings in person and by phone with various city and county agencies, according to one person familiar with the talks but not authorized to speak on the record.
The e-commerce titan also has not let officials know “whether they’ve winnowed the list yet or when they’ll make a decision,” the source said.