Amazon HQ2: Pittsburgh Has No Shot, Researcher Says

PITTSBURGH, PA - Bad news, Pittsburgh. A researcher and demographics expert has made his prediction on where Amazon HQ2 will be built and it isn’t here.

Bert Sperling, who runs the bestplaces.net website and is the author of “Cities Ranked and Rated,” believes Amazon will construct its second headquarters just outside of Washington, D.C. in northern Virginia.

“It will be situated near the Maryland border, in a small community that hasn’t been mentioned by other experts or publications,” Sperling wrote on the website. “The site of the new Amazon HQ2 will be the unincorporated community of Oatlands.”

Amazon has committed to investing as much as $50 billion in its new campus and eventually hiring as many as 50,000 employees. Pittsburgh is one of 20 finalists for the location, but Sperling believes there’s a good reason the city doesn’t have a serious shot at actually landing the headquarters.

Sperling noted that the 50,000 new Amazon employees will bring an additional 120,000 to 140,000 residents to the area in the form of family members, civil workers, and support businesses such as retail, healthcare, and services. That means that the new HQ2 will be responsible for nearly 200,000 new residents, or a mid-size city such as Salt Lake City.

“A new community of this magnitude needs a mega metro to provide resources for its development and growth,” Sperling wrote. “This requirement eliminates smaller contenders like Austin, Pittsburgh, Raleigh, Indianapolis, and Columbus.”

Sperling believes that Amazon essentially needs to create its own city on the outskirts of a major metropolitan area. The behemoth company has no need to compete for an expensive and crowded downtown space when it can create its own vision starting with a blank canvas.

“Amazon has proven itself to be bold and creative, and building their own city in Oatlands, Virginia certainly fits that mold,” Sperling wrote.

The company is expected to announce its decision before the end of the year.

Photo via Amazon.

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