5 More Things You Should Know About Denver's Amazon HQ2 Bid

DENVER, CO -- Cities all over North America are frantically winding up their proposals to capture the prize of a $5 billion Amazon “HQ2” headquarters. The company is dangling the promise of 50,000 tech jobs with salaries in the $100,000 range and a bundle of economic benefits. The deadline for proposals is next week.

But Metro Denver seems to have a certain set of attractive qualities that even came to the attention of the New York Times:

Denver has outdoor recreation, microbreweries, diversity and a culture of inclusion (specifically cited by Amazon) — but the cost of living is still low enough to make it affordable, and lots of big-city refugees have been moving there for this reason. Amazon would be smart to follow them.

Denver Mayor Michael Hancock called landing the Amazon HQ2 a “Mega-prospect.”

Already other big cities are trashtalking Denver.

“Have you ever been to Denver? It’s Cleveland with mountains,” wrote Cleveland-born Neil Steinberg, a Chicago Sun-Times columnist.

Five (More) Things to Know About Denver’s Amazon HQ2 Bid

1. Amazon already has a significant presence in Adams Co., Colorado, with a sortation facility and plans for a 1 million sq. ft. fulfillment center in Aurora and another 2.5 milion sq. ft. center in Thornton. Amazon also owns Denver area Whole Foods warehouses.

2. Colorado decided to give Amazon a single proposal with a “menu” of different site options. Colorado’s proposal “will be reflective of Colorado speaking with one voice,” the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade said.

3. Thirty different site proposals were submitted to the Metro Denver Economic Development Corp. last week. Eight sites made the final cut and will be presented next week as a single proposal. No one's talking about which sites have been chosen.

4. Denver's real estate watchers area already guessing where Amazon sites may be located.

“Amazon’s predominant HQ2 employee will be a millennial software developer, a demographic that typically skews male and urban. So the avocado toast should be in walking distance,” wrote Steve Ferris, founder of Real Estate Garage.

He’s guessing four downtown Denver sites are on the table:

· Elitch Gardens/Water Street/Pepsi Center site

· Upper Fox Former Denver Post printing plant to obtain

· 38th And Blake North Rino.

· Broadway Station/former Gates Rubber plant and Denver Design District.

5. Denver has the right mix of talent, business environment and quality of life, J. J. Ament, president and CEO of the Metro Denver Economic Development Corp told Denver Business Journal.

"I believe we can replicate their experience in Seattle, in terms of talent, business environment they want to work in — friendly and predictable — and you can't ignore our lifestyle,” Ament said. “There are some cities around the U.S. that compete with us on talent; some compete on good quality of life — but very few in U.S put it all together like we do."

Read more on Denver Patch here:

5 Things You Should Know About Denver’s Amazon HQ2 Bid (Part 1)

Image Courtesy Amazon.com