SEATTLE—Already domiciled at an 8.1-million-square-foot campus in its hometown of Seattle, Amazon is looking for a second headquarters city. The world's largest online retailer on Thursday said it expects to spend $5 billion building Amazon HQ2 somewhere in North America, and ultimately employ up to 50,000 people there.
To that end, Amazon has issued a Request for Proposals to local and state governments interested in learning more about how they might vie for the headquarters location. The company made it clear that HQ2 would be a full-fledged headquarters, rather than a satellite office.
“We expect HQ2 to be a full equal to our Seattle headquarters,” says Amazon's founder and CEO, Jeff Bezos. “Amazon HQ2 will bring billions of dollars in up-front and ongoing investments, and tens of thousands of high-paying jobs. We're excited to find a second home.”
Unlike a good number of residential second homes, though, Amazon's isn't likely to be in an out-of-the-way location. The RFP for HQ2, available by clicking here, calls for metropolitan areas of one million people or more with strong pools of technical talent residing in those areas, along with a stable and business-friendly environment. Amazon also has a preference for “communities that think big and creatively when considering locations and real estate options.”
HQ2 could be an urban or downtown campus with a layout similar to the existing Seattle site, the company said Thursday. It expressed a preference for a development-prepped site, and will consider greenfield sites, infill sites, existing buildings or a combination thereof. “We want to encourage states and communities to think creatively for viable real estate options, while not negatively affecting our preferred timeline,” according to a statement issued Thursday.
From an economic development standpoint, that creative thinking could end up paying off. Amazon points out that in Seattle, its direct investments between 2010 and 2016 added $38 billion to the city's economy, while local non-employees' increases in personal income during that time accounts for another $17 billion.
Amazon has set a deadline of Oct. 19 to submit proposals. The company expects to make a decision on site selection in 2018.
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Paul Bubny
Paul Bubny is managing editor of Real Estate Forum and GlobeSt.com. He has been reporting on business since 1988 and on commercial real estate since 2007. He is based at ALM Real Estate Media Group's offices in New York City.
