How Likely Is Baltimore To Land Amazon's Headquarters?

BALTIMORE, MD — While Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan wants online retail behemoth Amazon's second headquarters to be built in Baltimore, Montgomery County leaders are making their own play to land the campus. As are leaders in Howard and Prince George's counties, plus Fairfax County, Virginia, and Washington, D.C., are also in the chase.

The company would bring nearly 50,000 workers and $5 billion to the lucky city. So maybe it's more accurate to wonder which major metropolitan area doesn't want that influx of employees and wages. While Hogan is pushing Amazon to locate in the Port Covington area, he has said he will support any efforts in Maryland to land the campus.

The New York Times reported recently that Amazon would accept proposals for Amazon HQ2 from state and local leaders until Oct. 19. The company wants a city in North America with at least 1 million people that has a strong reputation in the tech world. That certainly describes D.C.

Watch: Amazon Is Expanding, And It Could Be Coming To A City Near You

Moody's Analytics, the economic-research arm of the business and financial services company, examined the many localities striving to become home to the second headquarters for the Seattle-based firm. Austin, Texas, was ranked No. 1 by Moody's, which analyzed Amazon's stated preferences and the firm's knowledge of leading economic factors. It says that Austin, Texas, is the leader in meeting Amazon's state preferences, followed by Atlanta, Philadelphia, Rochester, N.Y., and Pittsburgh. Rounding out the top 10 possibilities are New York City, Miami, Portland, Oregon, Boston and Salt Lake City.

Where does that leave Baltimore? Somewhere in the bottom of the pack. Moody's says that 50 cities have publicly expressed interest in becoming home to what Amazon is calling "HQ2."

Baltimore's plan to put Amazon on the city's south side, where Under Armour is building its headquarters, is a plus, says The Baltimore Sun. The Port Covington area is close to Interstate 95, a light rail is planned for the site, and it's close to BWI Airport, Amtrak and MARC lines.

Moody's analyzed five key categories — business environment, human capital, cost, quality of life and transportation.

The firm also looked at a "wild card" geography category, on the chance that Amazon may be looking at certain areas, like the economically attractive Northeast Corridor or cities closer to the halls of government in Washington D.C., with favor. When geography is factored in, Philadelphia moves from third to first and Pittsburgh slides into the No. 2 spot.

Montgomery County officials haven't said publicly what site they're touting as the best home for Amazon's headquarters, but Bethesda Magazine reports that White Flint Mall is one of the possibilities named by County Executive Ike Leggett.

Leaders say that Amazon has requested that proposals remain confidential.

Patrick Lacefield, the county’s director of public information, told Montgomery Community Media, “We don’t want to run the risk of disqualifying ourselves. Doing any of this in public doesn’t help our proposal one iota and it only hurts it. We’re in a competition with other jurisdictions who have other sites and incentives. And Amazon wants to be looking at those things themselves, so why shouldn’t we give them what they want?”

And Howard County officials think that Columbia's bragging rights as Money magazine's best place to live in America could help it land the deal.

The Washington Post reports that Fairfax County officials have passed on Tysons Corner to focus on Herndon. Fairfax and Loudoun Counties' board of supervisors are eyeing the Center for Innovative Technology, a site on the border of both counties near Dulles International Airport.

Working in Fairfax County's favor is the fact that it is already home to the East Coast campus of Amazon Web Services. The county beat off bids in Texas and Washington state for the project, which will bring 1,500 jobs to the area.

The D.C. mayor's office released a statement announcing that they were evaluating the request for proposals to determine next steps. "D.C. is open for business and we believe we check the boxes for Amazon's request," the statement reads.

The Washington Business Journal argues that the Capitol Riverfront near Nationals Park could be a good candidate, although it would require developers there to change up their plans a good bit.
D.C. won't be the only locality pursuing this massive economic opportunity.

David Iannucci, Prince George's County's top economic official, told the Washington Business Journal that they would be in the running as well. "Prince George's can compete for this," he said.

This wouldn't be a little satellite office. The headquarters would be a "full equal" to Amazon's current Seattle headquarters, which spans 8.1 million square feet and includes 33 buildings.

Although there is going to be a lot of competition, one thing working in the region's favor is its sterling tech reputation: according to a CBRE report, the D.C. area is second only to Silicon Valley in terms of its ability to attract and grow tech talent.
— Includes reporting by Patch Editor Dan Taylor
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