Amazon, the world’s largest online retailer and marketplace, has been in the habit of springing surprises in the business world this year. As if trying to top its acquisition of Whole Foods, they had earlier in September, announced plans to construct a new corporate headquarters. It is said to be a true equal of its current home – the HQ2 to their Seattle HQ1. To that end, they are accepting bids and proposals from both cities and large enough communities in all of North America for where their second headquarters will be located in the future.
One of the most serious contenders to represent in this “contest” of sorts is none other than the Big Apple itself, New York City.
New York’s good points
It seems like only yesterday that Amazon opened a real-world store selling books and Amazon-branded electronic devices in New York. That was actually back in May, and now they are looking to snag the “holy grail” that is the online retail giant’s second headquarters as well. A formal bid is being put together by the NYC Economic Development Corporation, and on their official website they are inviting New Yorkers to pitch in with both ideas and information from building space to assets. This will all be committed into the final proposal to be presented to “bring Amazon to New York City."
The Big Apple certainly has a lot going for it as a potential site for Amazon’s HQ2.
As Deputy Mayor for Housing and Development Alicia Glen puts it, New York has insane access to all industries that the online retailer is putting its fingers on these days: advertising, media and finance to name a few. They also have a huge and diverse workforce that has mostly gone through the city’s university system. NYC has made quite a success out of their Manhattan-based HQ for Google which has 5,000 on staff.
Big Apple’s competition
That number is significant because Amazon is promising that when completed, their HQ2 will provide job openings for nothing less than 50,000 employees, ten times what Google has in New York right now. ”Kids want to work in NYC,” notes Deputy Mayor Glen. “They don’t want to be in a suburban office park.” They have the potential to offer Amazon a choice of locations in any one of its boroughs, all well connected by major transportation networks.
New York City finds itself competing with other major American cities for Amazon’s new headquarters. Presently their most serious rivals for the honor are Boston and Chicago. They too meet the online company’s primary criteria of having a minimum 1 million population, with airport offering flights to both Seattle (HQ1) and Washington State.
