Maryland Loses Amazon HQ2 Sweepstakes To NoVA

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, MD — While Maryland offered $5 billion in incentives in hopes of luring Amazon to set up its second headquarters in the state, the bid failed to woo the online retailing giant. Tuesday morning founder and CEO Jeff Bezos annouced that Crystal City in northern Virginia and New York City will split the second headquarters. The decision marks the end of a competitive nationwide search for Amazon's newest home that lasted more than a year and attracted more than 200 bids.

The Seattle-based company says it will invest about $2.5 billion and create more than 25,000 high-paying jobs at each of its two new locations in Long Island City and Arlington, Virginia, a suburb of Washington, D.C.

Hiring at both the new headquarters will begin in 2019, the company said in a news release. "These two locations will allow us to attract world-class talent that will help us to continue inventing for customers for years to come," Bezos said. "The team did a great job selecting these sites, and we look forward to becoming an even bigger part of these communities."

Governor Larry Hogan said that the selection of Northern Virginia for one of the headquarters facilities is a tremendous win for the entire Capital region.

"Collectively, we will not only gain 25,000 corporate-level jobs, but also many businesses that are part of Amazon’s supply chain. I want to thank County Executive Ike Leggett and all of our partners in Montgomery County for working with us to put forth a strong proposal that highlighted the outstanding advantages of doing business in Maryland," Hogan said in a statement Tuesday. "I look forward to working closely with Governor Northam and Mayor Bowser to welcome Amazon and meet the opportunities that lie ahead.”

The Arlington location will result in additional jobs, business, and investments that will benefit the entire DC metropolitan region, including Montgomery County, said County Executive Ike Leggett. He also thanked Amazon for including the county among the finalists, and praised Hogan for his strong support of Montgomery County’s bid.

"Montgomery County continues to be one of the best places in America to live, raise a family, grow a business, and build a future," Leggett said in a statement. "Over the past 12 years we have strengthened our fiscal foundations, eliminated unnecessary red tape, laid the groundwork for new employment centers that will create approximately 100,000 new jobs, and invested even more in transportation options and our world-class school system."

Amazon's HQ2 will involve billions of dollars in investment and around 50,000 employees. The D.C. area had three spots on Amazon's shortlist of 20 finalists: Northern Virginia, D.C, and Montgomery County, Maryland.

Potential sites have offered incentives to lure the e-commerce company to their areas. While Maryland approved $5 billion in tax incentives for Amazon, Virginia and DC leaders have not publicly released their pitches for Amazon, WAMU reports. Greg LeRoy of Good Jobs First, a watchdog looking at economic incentives, told WAMU the DC area doesn't need to offer incentives because of its large skilled workforce, transportation and nearby airports. However, the competitive nature of the selection process means officials can be pressured to offer incentives.

Recently, the New York Times Times spoke to multiple analysts and experts who said Crystal City is a top location for several reasons: It's directly adjacent to Reagan National Airport and is close to Dulles International Airport, most of the buildings there are owned by one developer, it has its own Metro station, it has a prime location near D.C., it has a diverse and highly educated workforce, and it is in the business-friendly state of Virginia.

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There were 20 finalists, including Chicago, New York, Atlanta, Los Angeles and other major cities, and many have reportedly offered incentives to Amazon to move there. It is a highly sought after project because Amazon claims it would include $5 billion in investment and 50,000 high-paying jobs.

There are other reasons a site in the greater Washington, D.C., region landed the massive project. Bezos already owns the Washington Post, as well as D.C.'s largest mansion, and it makes sense he wants to have a significant presence close to a Congress that could look to target his company's labor practices, for example.

An Amazon job listing in the DC metropolitan area posted in late July stirred up talk about what it means for frontrunners of the second headquarters in the region. The economic development manager position involves working on economic incentives with state and local government, as well as chambers of commerce and "other key public/private stakeholder groups." It also involves "supporting the site selection process." The position does not mention working with the federal government. Candidates must have eight or more years of economic incentive or business development experience.

Washington, DC, proposed the Anacostia Riverfront, NoMa-Union Station, Capitol Hill East and Shaw-Howard University for an HQ2 site. Northern Virginia sites included Arlington-Alexandria and Fairfax-Loudoun Counties.

Includes reporting by Patch Editor Dan Taylor.

(Lead image: Photo by David McNew/Getty Images)