Could Montgomery County Land Amazon's 2nd Headquarters?

ROCKVILLE, MD — Not to be outdone by pitches from Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan to build in Baltimore, Montgomery County leaders are making their own play to land online retail behemoth Amazon's second headquarters. The company would bring nearly 50,000 workers and $5 billion to the lucky city. Washington, D.C., is also targeting the project, while Fairfax County Virginia leaders are also in the chase.

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.

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?”

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. 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.

Arlington Economic Development spokeswoman Cara O’Donnell told ARLnow.com that the county would be pursuing the opportunity, although she added that it was "too early to say which specific locations would be under consideration."

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.

There will be stiff competition, with Los Angeles, Chicago, Atlanta and Dallas planning to submit bids. But D.C. certainly has a good shot.

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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