NYC, Virginia Get Amazon HQ Site, Austin Out Of Running (Updated)

AUSTIN, TEXAS — Austin won't be getting the coveted Amazon second headquarters as the company has chosen to split the massive facility between New York City and Northern Virginia, as the company announced Tuesday.

"Amazon Selects New York City and Northern Virginia for New Headquarters," blared a company announcement issued with little fanfare and no detailed information on the selected cities. The two municipalities will share the second headquarters, dubbed HQ2, splitting it into two structures and separate work forces to augment the existing Seattle hub.

Austin Chamber officials were gracious in defeat, congratulating the winning bidders while noting that Austin already has a major presence in the region.

"Amazon already calls our region home. It has created thousands of jobs here with Amazon Web Services, the fulfillment center in San Marcos and, just last year, it acquired Whole Foods—a true Austin original," chamber officials said. “We want to congratulate Arlington, Virginia, and New York City on their success and wish them and Amazon well. We want to thank our partners for helping the Austin region be one of the 20 finalist regions—no small feat."

After such a furious race among 20 finalist cities to land the massive project — with each city essentially pitted against the other in a contest of economic inducement one-upmanship in trying to lure HQ2 — the Amazon press release, of sorts, confirming the selected sites was a tad anti-climactic. It mentions nothing about the selected cities' attributes nor does it provide anything in the way of quotes from company officials or municipal leaders. Instead, the "press release" serves more like a FAQ sidebar than illuminating piece offering insight into the selection process.

The reason for the abbreviated press release might be because company officials were angry that news leaked about the selection process, one top official even taking to Twitter when news of Northern Virginia broke in the Washington Post in a previous report earlier this month. The company official took to Twitter to chastise whoever might be leaking information, saying the city would not be helped as a result.

Amazon is famously secretive about corporate plans, opting to keep things close to the chest as developments are in the planning process rather than apprise the public. That tactic only serves to give journalists that much greater impetus in digging for stories, however. And so it was that the Wall Street Journal broke the story of the selected sites the night before an official company announcement.

The Wall Street Journal reported late Monday that Amazon has selected New York's Long Island City and Arlington County's Crystal City neighborhoods, citing unnamed sources familiar with the deal. CNN attempted to confirm the report, but Amazon declined to comment.

The Washington Post telegraphed the company's decision to locate the plant in Virginia in a Nov. 3 report, writing that company executives were in detailed talks with officials of Crystal City, Va. — exquisitely detailed discussions that even covered the best way to make the formal announcement. Two days later, the Wall Street Journal reported that Amazon officials could very well opt to divide HQ2 into two parts — with the two winning cities dividing the spoils of victory.

Austin and Dallas both made the final cut of 20 finalists from an exponentially longer initial list of contenders hoping to land the project, which promises to create some 50,000 jobs to the winning city with a corporate investment of some $5 billion.

The search for a site to build the project dubbed HQ2 began in September 2017 when Amazon started accepting proposals for the project. Many cities pursued the project aggressively, offering tax abatements, proposed infrastructure expansion, revamped transportation networks and other incentives in an effort to land the coveted economic development plum.

But not everybody was as enthusiastic about the prospect of landing the headquarters, including many in Austin who feared rising rental rates and increased traffic congestion in an already expensive and bottlenecked city.

Previous related stories:

Austin Reportedly Out Of The Running For Amazon HQ Project

Austin Enters The Race, Submitting Its Proposal For Amazon HQ Project

Austin Among Finalists To Land Amazon Headquarters

If Austin Lands Amazon H2: What Would It Be Like To Work There?

Austin Rents Would Rise If City Gets Amazon's Second Headquarters Site

Austin civic boosters needn't feel too bad losing out on HQ2 either, given their landing of another coveted project earlier this year that is far more than mere consolation prize: The Army Futures Command. In securing that highly sought project, Austin emerged the winner among five finalist municipalities culled from a list of 150 original contenders. The ambitious new Army function is aimed at military modernization techniques, headed up by a four-star general overseeing a new function that will ultimately employ some 500 military personnel.

So Austin — with a substantial existing Amazon presence in place and its securing of the Army Futures Command — comes out less bruised by the spirited contest for HQ2 than other competing cities. Immediately after the announcement of the split headquarters sites in New York and Virginia, a backlash emerged about the process of pitting one city against the other in what is, in effect, formulation of cost-saving packages to build the twin plants for the worlds richest man Amazon founder, chairman and CEO Jeff Bezos, the world's richest man with a personal fortune of $96 billion.

The folks behind Alexa, the robotic personal assistant, latched onto that angle in the announcement's wake while cleverly promoting its product: "With the news of Amazon’s selection of New York City and Northern Virginia as the destinations for the company’s new HQs, 18 cities are left feeling a little dejected after spending hundreds of millions of dollars and months courting and waiting," a press advisory read. "Some might feel they’re owed an apology. Who better to deliver that apology than Alexa?"

And so, Alexa was programmed to offer each losing city, including Austin, a tailored apology for the wasted effort. Concluded with a disclaimer the apology isn't from Amazon directly, the message to Austin includes references to unique municipal dynamics.

"Okay, Austin, maybe we do owe you an apology for this whole HQ2 thing," Alexa says in the tailored apology. "You're feeling like we let you down — for months." A robotic-toned diatribe into characteristics of the local economy follows before specifics on other factors that may have played a part in Austin not landing the headquarters: "Okay, it's also your bats. Honestly, bats just really freak us out. you say they're regular bats. But what if they're not? For all we know, you're all secretly vampires. Like a sanctuary city for vampires who love tacos."

Ouch.

"Sorry, this is coning out all wrong," Alexa continues. "You know, it's hard for us too. We're really going to miss your barbecue and artesenal graffiti."

Double ouch.

The Please Apologize skill was built by Austin-based ad agency McGarrah Jessee, and released earlier this year, officials explained. To hear the full apology, and those for other losing cities, click here.

Not sure if this helps or hurts, Alexa. But the stab at humor does take some of the sting out of it.

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