Will Miami be Amazon’s Newest Headquarters Location?

Miami city officials have been on the edge of their seats waiting for information on where Amazon will host its second headquarters.

“We would like to move Miami forward in the process so we can continue to learn more about your community, your talent, and potential real estate options,” words written by Amazon executive, Holly Sullivan. She continued on, “Please email me back with available times for a call so we can discuss next steps.”

Miami was one of 20 other locations within the United States and Canada to be considered as a hub for Amazon’s new headquarters. The additional headquarters will provide an estimated 50,000 jobs and $5 billion in investment monies to the winning city, enticements that have caused more than a little excitement in local governments. These numbers are figures Amazon has quoted city officials, which has sparked competition between the final 20 cities under consideration. 238 cities and regions applied to host the newest Amazon headquarters. Many locations used motivators such as promised tax breaks to encourage Amazon to look to them to host. Miami, an international city, also added a youthful, professional work pool to draw from, which is always an appealing feature for new businesses.

Some other contenders besides Miami are obvious choices like Denver and Dallas, as well as some more unexpected locations such as Columbus, Nashville, and Newark. Austin, Los Angeles, and New York also made the list of finalists. For larger cities like Los Angeles and New York, having Amazon on their list of employers would really boost their lead in the tech industry.

The remaining of the 20 finalists are the following locations; Atlanta, Chicago, Indianapolis, Montgomery County, Virginia, Philadelphia, Raleigh, Washington and one location outside of the United States, Toronto, Canada.

 Amazon had to whittle down the contenders from 238 to 20, and rejected applications from Detroit, Phoenix and San Diego. In addition the company rejected all bids coming from Mexico. A large number of cities along the east coast made the list, the company straying away from the already booming technology hubs that are wound in the West.

“Getting from 238 to 20 was very tough — all the proposals showed tremendous enthusiasm and creativity,” Ms. Sullivan, Amazon’s head of economic development, gave some insight into their thought process. “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.” Amazon has been keeping a lid on most of their requirements for companies to make the cut, giving only small details to entice cities to make a bid for their business. Amazon was very forward regarding the fact that the decisions they made are strongly based on the initial criteria they established. The decision was not made lightly. Over a dozen people within the company worked together to build the list of the final 20 cities under consideration.

Now that the list has been whittled down to 20, Amazon will reveal more information with city leaders and work with them directly to find the city that works best for them.  Amazon will make their selection later in 2018.

Amazon is looking for specific details from the final 20, including potential building locations to host the large headquarters as well as crime and traffic stats. Amazon is also looking for prime tax incentives that will help defray the costs of building and operating a business as large as the internet giant.

Apple, another prominent leader in technology announced they are also looking to build a new, large location.  They will not be using the same selection process as Amazon. Rather than having a public bidding war, they will research locations and decide for themselves which US city will be the new home for Apple’s newest location.

TeCompetition will be strong and cities will eagerly await the decision of Amazon.