Leaders Pitch DFW Region To Lure Amazon's HQ2
FORT WORTH (CBS11) - The date October 19 may not have any special significance for you, but to various cities in North Texas and across the country, this day is a big deal.
That's because this is deadline day for submitting pitches to lure Amazon's second corporate headquarters.
The Dallas Regional Chamber and Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce released a video that went along with their pitch.
Brandom Gengelbach, Executive VP of Economic Development for the Fort Worth Chamber says, "I think you can see from the video what we're trying to convey is we have something for everyone here."
DFW leaders hope the video pitch and facts about North Texas will make as big a splash at Amazon as the online retailing giant's announcement six weeks ago, that it's looking for a place to build a second corporate headquarters.
Gengelbach says, "It's been an exciting six weeks."
As part of its HQ2, Amazon wants to add 50,000 jobs, each offering compensation of $100,000.
The company is looking for a city with a large, diverse workforce, an international airport, a link to mass-transit, universities, and culture.
While about a dozen cities in North Texas submitted proposals to Amazon, they submitted a joint proposal as a region.
The Chambers of Commerce say one city can't do this alone, and that the first job is to lure them to DFW.
The thought is, if one city here lands HQ2, they all win.
Experts say DFW's true competition include cities such as Denver, Atlanta, Washington DC, Boston, Toronto and Seattle, where its original headquarters will remain.
Gengelbach says, "I would put us up against anyone at the top of the list. I can't think of too many regions that can absorb that type of growth without causing headaches. Growth is our middle name in Dallas-Fort Worth."
Cities and states know in the final round, they'll have to offer tax and other incentives to lure Amazon.
Fort Worth City Manager David Cooke says, "We believe if you get an HQ2 that comes to your community, the benefits are going to outweigh the incentives, the cost of the infrastructure you still have to put in."
The Dallas Regional Chamber and Fort Worth Chamber which oversaw the DFW region's pitch, say they've lured other large companies this way -- except unlike before -- this process has been public.
Gengelbach says, "Most of the time this is stuff done behind closed doors and not everyone knows about."
Even though the process has been public, Amazon has only said it will announce the winning site sometime next year, and that it hopes to open in 2019.
