LA Submits Bid For Amazon Headquarters

LOS ANGELES, CA — Los Angeles is one of the contenders that submitted a bid ahead of Thursday's deadline set by Amazon for cities that want to be the home of its second headquarters.

Amazon, headquartered in Seattle, announced in September plans to invest $5 billion to build and operate a second headquarters and asked cities to submit bids. Not long after the announcement, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said the city would join the competition.

The city developed its bid in collaboration with Los Angeles County and with the help of the Los Angeles Economic Development Corporation. The bid was submitted Wednesday.

"Mayor Garcetti is leading a compelling bid, together with our county partners, that aims to show Amazon why it can't afford to expand anywhere else but L.A.," Garcetti spokesman Alex Comisar said. "Our region has three top- tier research universities that attract world-class talent, and a uniquely dynamic way of life that keeps workers here.

We're investing billions of dollars to create one of the most robust public transportation networks in America," Comisar said. "And our leading port and airport give us limitless connectivity to the rest of the world."

Few details about the bid or what possible tax breaks it offers have been released, but L.A. City Councilman Bob Blumenfield has made it known through a motion he submitted and an editorial in the Los Angeles Daily News that he wants Warner Center in his west San Fernando Valley district to be part of the bid.

"Although the LAEDC will present Amazon with multiple locations in the county for Amazon's consideration, the city of Los Angeles will have a compelling case for its prospective sites, including the Warner Center in the West San Fernando Valley," Blumenfield's motion states. "The Warner Center is uniquely positioned to meet Amazon's needs with a recently updated specific plan that encourages investment and makes approvals more streamlined to facilitate construction at the scale Amazon seeks."

According to Amazon's request for proposals, it wants the new headquarters to be located in a metropolitan area with more than one million people. The final selection is set to be made sometime in 2018.

Amazon, a worldwide leader in e-commerce, estimates that its investments in Seattle between 2010 and 2016 added $38 billion to the city's economy.

Los Angeles is considered a longshot by some experts to land the headquarters. Moody's did not name L.A. or any California city in its ranking of the 10 cities most likely to win the bid. Austin placed first on the list, and the Atlanta area placed second.

City News Service