Officials Tight-Lipped On Minnesota's Bid For Amazon's 2nd Headquarters
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- The deadline is looming for Minnesota to submit its plan to bring Amazon's new headquarters to the state.
More than 50 cities across the U.S. and Canada have entered the $5 billion bidding war. Some of the biggest include Chicago, Boston, Dallas, Denver and Toronto.
Minnesota is also in the mix, but state leaders are tight-lipped about their pitch. Members of the bid committee say that revealing the details of their bid would put Minnesota at a competitive disadvantage.
Amazon is promising a $5 billion headquarters and up to 50,000 high paying jobs to the winning city. Minnesota's bid committee says the state proposal is strong.
"This is the best chance we've had in a long time to tell our story," said Michael Langley, CEO of Greater MSP, "to tell the whole world what a great place this is. We've got the Super Bowl coming up, we've got the Final Four coming up, potentially a World's Fair here in a few years. This is our time, and we are telling the story, and I can tell you -- Amazon will resonate with the story we are telling."
Minnesota's bid procedure was low key, compared to other locations. To stand out among contenders; Tuscon, Arizona, shipped a live cactus to Amazon; Amazon shipped it back. Bermingham, Alabama, built an Amazon delivery box at City Hall, and Frisco, Texas, crafted a creative video message with a pitch to Amazon's personal assistant:
"Hey Alexa! Where should Amazon locate HQ2?," the Frisco Mayor asks his Amazon Echo in the video. "In Frisco, Texas," the device responds.
Minnesota is proposing multiple unidentified locations for the Amazon Headquarters, and it won't reveal whether the bid includes state tax incentives that aren't already available to any other Minnesota company.
"We're really thinking about our entire corporate ecosystem," Shawntera Hardy, the Minnesota Commissioner of the Department of Employment and Economic Development, said. "That has been every step of the way of this process -- being thoughtful about that."
Minnesota is among dozens of locations bidding for Amazon, including multiple contenders from six Midwestern states: Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, Ohio and Missouri.
A winning bid would bring growing pains, but a top marketing expert says it's worth it.
"With it is going to come a lot of other struggles from other people, but it's going to make the Twin Cities and Minnesota a lot more attractive to other companies as well," University of St. Thomas professor emeritus David Brennan said.
Minnesota will officially file its bid by Thursday, the first Amazon deadline. It's unclear when Amazon will make a decision, or ask cities for more information.
