Could Amazon Be Coming To Morris County? One Town Is Considering It

ROXBURY, NJ — Could Amazon call Morris County home soon? One town is considering throwing their hat into the ring for the new Amazon headquarters, called HQ2.

Roxbury Township officials met in a closed door session to discuss the legal ramifications of pursuing the application process, Amy Rhead, the township clerk, confirmed to Patch. No vote was taken at that time, nor have any concrete steps been taken. She did not provide any further details.

A number of other New Jersey towns have expressed interest in the project, which could bring as many as 50,000 jobs to whatever area it's built in. Amazon has put out a nationwide call for submissions from areas that fit the following criteria:

• Metropolitan areas with more than 1 million people
• Urban or suburban locations with a significant labor pool with expertise in computer software development and engineering, executive management, legal and accounting
• Direct access to mass transportation on site and real estate and infrastructure to support a minimum 500,000 square feet of space that can expand over time to support up to eight million square feet

Gov. Chris Christie said in a statement that the online retailer, which already has opened warehouses and begun employing hundreds of new workers in the Garden State, would be a good fit for a region that has had "steady employment growth and rising wages."

New Jersey officials think the company could bring 50,000 jobs and billions of dollars of private investment to the state, according to the New Jersey Partnership for Action.

“The Garden State is an epicenter of innovation with a burgeoning pool of tech talent, and we plan to make a compelling case to Amazon as they locate a second corporate headquarters,” Christie said.

Image: Patch file photo

With reporting by Tom Davis (Patch Staff)