After over 4 months of fevered anticipation, Amazon has just announced their 20 finalist cities for their massive new second headquarters.
PC Magazine, Fortune, and CBS News all ranked Charlotte as a top contender for the new $5 billion 50,000 employee headquarters, and we even produced this epic video in an attempt to attract the tech giant. In the end, however, Amazon chose 20 significantly worse cities than Charlotte as finalists (they most likely offered Amazon more money).
According to their official press release, Amazon has now narrowed down their search to the following 20 cities;
– 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
– 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.”
Amazon evaluated each of the proposals based on the criteria outlined in the RFP to create the list of 20 HQ2 candidates that will continue in the selection process. In the coming months, Amazon will work with each of the candidate locations to dive deeper into their proposals, request additional information, and evaluate the feasibility of a future partnership that can accommodate the company’s hiring plans as well as benefit its employees and the local community. Amazon now expects to make a decision in 2018.
What do you think about their decisions?
Will you still be shopping on Amazon?