Columbus Is Finalist For Amazon HQ2

COLUMBUS, OH — Columbus is one of 20 cities that have been named finalists in the competition for Amazon's HQ2 facility, which could bring 50,000 jobs and $5 billion in investments into a metro area. Columbus is the only Ohio city that made the cut.

More than 238 metro areas made some kind of proposal for the headquarters, including Cleveland and Cincinnati. Moving on to the next phase means Columbus will be asked to flesh out details of its proposal for the headquarters.

“Thank you to all 238 communities that submitted proposals. Getting from 238 to 20 was very tough – all the proposals showed tremendous enthusiasm and creativity,” said Holly Sullivan, Amazon Public Policy. “Through this process we learned about many new communities across North America that we will consider as locations for future infrastructure investment and job creation.”

The company said HQ2 will not be a satellite office, but a complete headquarters. Up to 50,000 "high-paying" jobs would be housed at the facility, Amazon said. It is unclear how the company defines high-paying.

Details of Columbus' bid are scarce. Nearly all major metro areas in the state worked with JobsOhio, the state's private development firm, to create bid packages — but also meaning the packages aren't subject to public review.

Kenny McDonald, the CEO of Columbus 2020, told Columbus Business First that the city's bid package was heavily focused on talent recruitment and retention. McDonald would not discuss what, if any, economic incentives were included in the city's bid.

Many cities offered extremely large packages to Amazon to try and lure HQ2. Newark, New Jersey offered about $7 billion in tax incentives, Business Insider reports. To no one's surprise, Newark is one of the 20 finalists.

Here are the 20 competitors for Amazon HQ2:

- Atlanta, GA
- Austin, TX
- Boston, MA
- Chicago, IL
- Columbus, OH
- Dallas, TX
- Denver, CO
- Indianapolis, IN
- Los Angeles, CA
- Miami, FL
- Montgomery County, MD
- Nashville, TN
- Newark, NJ
- New York City, NY
- Northern Virginia, VA
- Philadelphia, PA
- Pittsburgh, PA
- Raleigh, NC
- Toronto, ON
- Washington D.C.

File photo by Julio Cortez/Associated Press