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Tech giant Amazon is looking for a city to establish a second, equal, headquarters to the already established one in Seattle. Amazon is the largest internet based retailer in the world. They sell everything one could possibly want at the convenience of online shopping. It is what has made them so successful so it is understandable why cities all over North America are bending over backwards to bring them in.

 

Amazon has pledged to invest $5 billion in construction and grow this second headquarters to include as many as 50,000 high-paying jobs. In addition to the direct hiring, investment, construction and ongoing operation, 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 which branch off of the presence of the giant in the area.

 

Amazon “estimates its investments in Seattle from 2010 through 2016 resulted in an additional $38 billion to the city’s economy – every dollar invested by Amazon in Seattle generated an additional $1.40 for the city’s economy overall.”

There is speculation that the company is looking for HQ2 because it simply has run out of place to grow in Seattle. They need to continue with their a rapid expansion and the city cannot support such growth.

 

Unsurprisingly, they have come up with a set of core requirements for which they will use to pick the location of their new HQ. To be considered, the prospecting city must have a metropolitan area of over 1 million people, a stable and business friendly environment, within 48 km of a population center, within 45 minutes of an international airport, proximity to major highways (2–5 km), access to mass transit routes, and up to 8 million square feet of office space for future expansion.

Talent is one of the major considerations. To be successful Amazon must have innovative minds to employ. As a result, proximity to a high ranking University is another key requirement.

 

The most intriguing part of their proposal is they are giving this opportunity to any city in North America, opening the competition to Canadian cities like Toronto and Montreal.

They have stated that incentives and tax breaks will “play a significant impact on their decision making process”. Additionally they have encouraged cities to be creative in their proposals. Some of the big contenders are Boston, Washington D.C, Toronto, Atlanta and Denver. The deadline for Phase I bids is October 19, 2017.

 

Understandably, this has created ‘the mother of all bidding wars’ and all of North America will be holding its breath waiting for the final announcement in 2018.