Amazon Announces Candidates for HQ2; NYC Among 20 Locations in the Running
John Jordan | January 18, 2018
SEATTLE—The multi-billion dollar sweepstakes for Amazon’s second North American headquarters (HQ2) is now down to 20 locations.
Although some New York City suburban locations submitted bids for Amazon’s HQ2 including Westchester County, 19 mostly urban cities and Toronto, Canada made the final 20 cut. Amazon considered a total of 238 proposals. Amazon’s corporate headquarters is based in Seattle. The HQ2 project is expected to bring $5 billion in investment and 50,000 high-paying jobs.
Among the cities in the Northeast include: New York City, Boston, Newark, NJ and Washington, DC. Amazon announced it was conducting a search for a second North American headquarters last September.
The complete list includes: Atlanta, GA; Austin, TX; Boston, MA; Chicago, IL; Columbus, OH; Dallas, TX; Denver, CO; Indianapolis, IN; Los Angeles, CA; Miami, FL; Montgomery County, MD; Nashville, TN; Newark, NJ; New York City, NY; Northern Virginia, VA; Philadelphia, PA; Pittsburgh, PA; Raleigh, NC; Toronto, ON and Washington D.C.
“Thank you to all 238 communities that submitted proposals. Getting from 238 to 20 was very tough – all the proposals showed tremendous enthusiasm and creativity,” said Holly Sullivan, Amazon Public Policy. “Through this process we learned about many new communities across North America that we will consider as locations for future infrastructure investment and job creation.”
In the coming months, Amazon says it will work with each of the candidate locations to “dive deeper into their proposals,” as well as request additional information. Amazon expects to make a decision in 2018.
Amazon HQ2 will be a complete headquarters for Amazon, not a satellite office. In addition to Amazon’s direct hiring and investment, construction and ongoing operation of Amazon HQ2 is expected to create tens of thousands of additional jobs and tens of billions of dollars in additional investment in the surrounding community, Amazon states.
Editor, Real Estate In-Depth