Amazon is perhaps only one of the few companies that greatly affect the place they set up shop in.
Seattle, where Amazon's first and only headquarters is located, thrived. Amazon moved an additional $38 billion to the city's economy between 2010 and 2016, with a capital investment of $3.7 billion in buildings and infrastructure, $25.7 billion as overall compensation for employees, and $43 million paid to the city's public transportation as part of an employee benefit.
Amazon Announces Plans For Behemoth Amazon HQ2
Soon, another U.S. city will benefit from Amazon much of the same way Seattle currently does, because CEO Jeff Bezos's e-commerce juggernaut is looking for a second headquarters, and it's doing so via a public process. Why?
"We want to find a city that is excited to work with us and where our customers, employees, and the community can all benefit," announced Amazon.
Cities are no doubt clamoring right this very month, making phone calls, asking various executives for meetings, pulling strings they can muster — just to get in Amazon's good graces. Why not? The Seattle Times says Bezos, the second richest person in the world, is looking to drop around $5 billion for "Amazon HQ2."
Amazon HQ2, Seattle Site To Be Full Equals
To offer some perspective, this notional headquarters won't be a mere satellite warehouse, a "mini" version, or an expansion of the Seattle site. It's going to be a "full equal" to the current HQ — Amazon is requiring cities to have a spare of up to 8,000,000 square feet of land — and that's a major deal because as said earlier, when Amazon flaps its wings, tornadoes appear. It has already offered some examples of the ripple effect: Amazon stands to open up as many as "50,000 high-paying" jobs in the chosen city. But there's more.
"[C]onstruction 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."
Looking at Amazon's official request for proposal, or RFP, it wants to find a location boasting a "highly educated workforce" and "stable business-friendly environment." Amazon also wants proximity to the city's population center, international airport, major highways, and access to mass transit.
Chicago is already planning to respond to Amazon's proposal search, according to the Chicago Tribune. City Mayor Rahm Emanuel has already spoken with Bezos several times about choosing Chicago, according to a spokesperson.
Number Of Cities That Could Accommodate Amazon HQ2 Is Limited
Bloomberg argues only a handful of cities are eligible to be home to Amazon's second HQ because of many factors, such as its requirements, tax incentives, and several cultural aspects. Because of this, the winning city could be selected from this limited pool: Toronto, Boston, Washington, Atlanta, Dallas, or Denver.
Think your city will have the next Amazon HQ? Why or why not? Feel free to sound off in the comments section below!
