The growing multi-billion dollar company, Amazon, has and continues to outshine all of the existing retail stores. It has come to the point where it has grown so much that it is looking for a new headquarter location. On September 7, Amazon announced that it is looking for a location for its second headquarters in North America. This announcement triggered a bidding war with more than 100 cities bidding to be the location of the new headquarters. The company plans to invest $5 million dollars into the project. Cities across the United States leaped at this opportunity and offered whatever they could.  

The new headquarters will bring in 50,000 new jobs at the start and will bring in a lot more jobs once settled. Not only will there be a surge of jobs available but property value surrounding the headquarters will increase and the new headquarters could change the fate of not only a city but also a whole state. Although the cities that have bidded offered whatever the could, Amazon had some of its own demands:

• A populated metropolitan area (at least 1 million residents)
• Nearby public transportation
• A close international airport
• Convenient access to a highway

Amazon isn’t only looking for convenient access to major transportation systems but it is taking into account the qualifications of the residents in the surrounding area. According to The New York Times, Amazon has asked for the universities and statistics of the city residents. Right now, Amazon has its only headquarters in Seattle, Washington and is looking for a similar environment for its second headquarters. The company wants its surrounding area to have a diverse population and be surrounded by a busy, urban atmosphere.

Of course when Amazon knows that every city wants them, they can make the cities work a little more for what they want. Amazon hinted that a few incentives could help a city’s chance of becoming the location of their new headquarters. Some of the incentives include:

• Free land or land for a reduced priced
• Reduced taxes
• Packages offering to invest millions of dollars into the project

Amazon has a lot of choices but all enticing choices. It will be a hard decision to make, but every hard decision results in a beneficial choice. Regardless of which city Amazon chooses to make its second home, the company will continue to grow and the tech jobs will continue to increase. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see where the prime zone is.