Hello, Milwaukee? Amazon Says No To $5 Billion HQ

MILWAUKEE, WI — Online retail giant Amazon announced the 20 finalists for its $5 billion future headquarters - and Milwaukee did not make the list. On Thursday, the Seattle-based company announced it has chosen the 20 metropolitan areas to move to the next phase of the process.

According to a WTMJ report, Wisconsin's bid was submitted in mid-October on behalf of the Milwaukee 7, an economic development platform for the seven counties in southeastern Wisconsin: Kenosha, Milwaukee, Ozaukee, Racine, Walworth, Washington and Waukesha.

In a statement, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett said the Milwaukee area was a prime location for Amazon's second headquarters as the city is located near Chicago and Madison, Wis.

Amazon reviewed 238 proposals from across the United States, Canada, and Mexico to host "HQ2," the company's second headquarters in North America. The company plans to invest more than $5 billion and grow the second headquarters to accommodate as many as 50,000 jobs. The company also said the construction and ongoing operation of HQ2 is expected to create tens of thousands of additional jobs and tens of billions of dollars in additional investment in the surrounding community.

Facing such an appealing opportunity, only handful of states didn't pitch the tech giant.

"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," Holly Sullivan, Amazon Public Policy, said in a statement. "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."

Here are the 20 cities on Amazon's shortlist:

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.
In the coming months, the company will work with each of the finalists to dive deeper into their proposals. Amazon expects to make a decision in 2018.

In this Wednesday, Oct. 11, 2017, photo, large spheres take shape in front of an existing Amazon building, behind, as new construction continues across the street in Seattle. Memo to the many places vying for Amazon's second headquarters: It ain't all food trucks and free bananas. For years now, much of downtown Seattle has been a maze of broken streets and caution-taped sidewalks, with dozens of enormous cranes towering overhead as construction trucks rumble past pedestrians and bicyclists. And while Amazon is far from solely to blame for these issues, and many say the benefits clearly outweigh the drawbacks, life has been disrupted. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)