Two Pennsylvania Cities Make Amazon Short List

Aly Delp

Aly Delp

Published January 19, 2018 5:21 am
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PENNSYLVANIA (EYT) — Amazon.com announced on Thursday its official shortlist of possible cities for the company’s second headquarters, and two Pennsylvania cities made the cut.

(Photo courtesy Amazon.)

In a release posted by Amazon on Thursday, both Pittsburgh and Philadelphia made the shortlist of 20 possible sites for the future second headquarters of the online retail giant. You can view the full shortlist here.

According to a press release from Amazon, “Amazon HQ2 will be a complete headquarters for Amazon, not a satellite office. The company plans to invest over $5 billion and grow this second headquarters to accommodate as many as 50,000 high-paying jobs. In addition to Amazon’s direct hiring and investment, construction 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.”

The economic impact of this new headquarters is certainly nothing to scoff at. The 50,000 new jobs and the growth created by the construction and operation of the new headquarters would be a boon to any city, but that’s just the beginning. It is also possible that Amazon could act as an “anchor” company: a company that attracts its suppliers or other large tech companies to the area around its new headquarters.

Philadelphia jumped on the opportunity to put their best foot forward early on; they were one of the first cities to make their interest in becoming a location from Amazon HQ2 known. A social media campaign, dubbed #PhillyDelivers, got the public involved. Then, the city published a series of videos touting everything from its location and transit systems to its current pool of available talent. Their official bid to Amazon is still not publicly available, due to the competitive nature of the bidding.

Pittsburgh, on the other hand, has been playing things much closer to the chest. Though Mayor Bill Peduto did admit to landing a private conference call with the Amazon executive in charge of reading all the proposals, he hasn’t publicly commented beyond that. Pittsburgh’s official offer to Amazon is also not publicly available. The city has kept its bid entirely under wraps, also citing competitive reasons.

State legislators have been promoting Pennsylvania, in general, as a location as well. They touted Pennsylvania’s educational institutions and workforce in an online letter, available here, to Amazon late last year, and there have been discussions of possible tax breaks for the tech giant if they choose to build their new location within the state of Pennsylvania.

For now, all we really know is that Amazon has narrowed the choice down to 20 finalists, and, as their press release put it, “Amazon expects to make a decision in 2018.”

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