Amazon Shortlists 20 Cities for ‘HQ2’ Location

At an event today in Chicago, Amazon employees from nearby fulfillment centers packed 2,00
Peter Wynn Thompson/AP Images for Amazon

Amazon has narrowed the future location of its second headquarters, called “HQ2,” to 20 cities. 19 cities in America and Toronto, Canada, remain in the running for the $5 billion project.

CNN reports that only 20 cities are on the shortlist to become home to Amazon’s second headquarters. Amazon initially began deciding where to place their new HQ by examining  238 cities and regions from across all 50 states and several North American locations outside of the United States, now the 20 cities being considered include:

  • 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, Canada
  • Washington D.C.

Announced in September of 2017, the new Amazon building will be called HQ2 and will cost approximately $5 billion to develop and operate. Amazon estimates that the building could create up to  50,000 high-paying jobs in the city they choose to construct it in. Holly Sullivan of Amazon Public Policy commented on Amazon’s decision to cut down their list of 238 cities to only 20 saying, “Getting from 238 to 20 was very tough — all the proposals showed tremendous enthusiasm and creativity. 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.”

Following the announcement of Amazon’s plans to build the new HQ, cities across America began attempting to entice Amazon to develop the building in their city. Kansas City Mayor Sly James bought and reviewed as many as 1,000 Amazon products in an attempt to convince Amazon to locate there while Stonecrest, Georgia, offered to rename the city Amazon, Georgia, and give the company 345 acres of land on which to develop their new HQ for free. However, it seems that many of these locations didn’t fit Amazon’s criteria which included being close to a major airport and the city’s ability to attract talented tech workers.

Amazon stated that they will be working closely with each of the 20 locations to “dive deeper” into their proposals over the next few months. Amazon has stated that the HQ2 building will be a “full equal” to their campus located in Seattle. The company estimates that between 2010 and 2016, the Amazon campus generated $38 billion for Seattle’s economy.

Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter @LucasNolan_ or email him at lnolan@breitbart.com.

COMMENTS

Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.