“Total Game Changer”- Indy in Top 20 for Amazon HQ

The e-commerce giant solicited bids from cities with populations of at least 1 million and ready access to an global airport and got 238 applications.

“We were able to bring together many regional stakeholders in support of a joint application”, Augustine said.

Some state and local governments have made public the details of the financial incentives they are dangling.

“I’m positive we are now on the radar of Amazon and other Fortune 100 companies”, Barela said in a statement about Borderplex’s “underdog” proposal being rejected.

In an email to the task force, Amazon said it plans to keep the proposal on hand for the future.

“Canada is a beacon of stability, reliability and openness”, Economic Minister Navdeep Bains said in an emailed statement. We have cultural work that goes across.

“Fifty-thousand jobs. That’s not [a] little amount of jobs that can be taken away from potentially billion-dollar companies that can be generated and created right here in the city of Toronto”, he added.

Amazon will still have a presence in the region, however. “We are working hard to address these challenges, but we suspect they factored heavily in Amazon’s decision to look elsewhere”.

Amazon released a list of 20 cities it is considering for its second headquarters.

To see how much each of the 17 U.S. cities could benefit from 50,000 new jobs, we ordered them from highest to lowest unemployment rate.

Inc. said it will make a final selection sometime this year.

It would be hoped that the Amazon presence might also step up salaries of other companies in the area relying on high-tech workers.

Call it a not-so-short list.

Tikijian said the city’s apartment occupancy rate is near 94 percent and there aren’t many houses available, but it’s cheaper to build homes or offices here than in most other big cities.

“Where we do excel is having affordable housing and no income tax, we’re one of six states that have that”, said Beitsch, a senior director for the engineering consulting firm GAI Consultants in Orlando.

Rhode Island has been knocked out of the running for Amazon’s second headquarters, but state officials say it was worth putting in a serious bid.

“The Golden State is home to the best universities and research institutions in the world, a uniquely qualified and talented workforce and the most dynamic combination of innovation and investment on the planet”, Brown said a pitch letter to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos.

For example, Apple announced plans Wednesday for a five-year, $30 billion project that will generate 20,000 jobs and an expected payment of $38 billion in taxes on its foreign profits. The other finalists are Columbus, Ohio; Newark, N.J.; Toronto; Indianapolis; Denver; Nashville; Los Angeles; Dallas; Austin; Boston; New York City; Pittsburgh; Philadelphia; Washington, D.C.; Raleigh, N.C.; Montgomery County, Md.; Northern Virginia; Atlanta and Miami. Bay Area Council President Jim Wunderman said the decision was disappointing. “I’d put it up against any site in the country”.