Pittsburgh A Finalist For Amazon HQ2

PITTSBURGH, PA - Amazon announced Thursday that 20 cities are finalists for its second headquarters and Pittsburgh was among those making the cut.

With Amazon pledging to invest as much as $50 billion in its new campus, which eventually could house as many as 50,000 employees, the company received applications from 238 metropolitan areas last fall.

“Thank you to all 238 communities that submitted proposals. Getting from238 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.”

Amazon said that in the coming months, the company will work with each of the candidate locations to dive deeper into their proposals, request additional information, and evaluate the feasibility of a future partnership that can accommodate the company’s hiring plans as well as benefit its employees and the local community. Amazon expects to make a decision in 2018.

Philadelphia also is 20 remaining locations being considered, making Pennsylvania one of only two states with two finalist cities. Texas was the other, with Dallas and Austin surviving.

Cities that made the cut:

- 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.

A team of civic, business, university and foundation leaders took six weeks to put together a massive proposal to Amazon that reportedly was two inches thick.

What precisely was in the Pittsburgh Amazon pitch is unknown. Despite numerous Right-to-Know requests that were filed, Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto and Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald have refused to release any information on the Amazon proposal. But it's believed the number one local location being pitched is the Hazelwood Green (formerly Almono) site.

Photo: Associated Press.