Amazon announced a list of 20 finalists for its ‘HQ2’ project, and Rochester did not make the list.
The ecommerce giant announced last year it planned to invest $5 billion in a second headquarters in North America. Jurisdictions throughout New York state bid on the project. Rochester and Buffalo joined forces to submit a proposal that touted the region’s dynamic site locations, information on the region’s existing and evolving innovation ecosystem and background on the area’s more than 60 colleges and universities.
New York City, Albany and Syracuse also submitted proposals for the $5 billion investment the online shopping giant has said it expects to make in the winning region. New York City was the only New York location to make the list of finalists.
“While this news is certainly disappointing, we’re proud of the comprehensive proposal we put forth on behalf of Buffalo and Rochester. The joint collaboration between Buffalo and
Rochester has been an inventive exercise in big picture, regional thinking focused on the attraction of new capital investment and jobs in Western New York,” said Matt Hurlbutt, president and CEO of Greater Rochester Enterprise Inc. and Tom Kucharski, president and CEO of Invest Buffalo Niagara, in a joint statement. “By linking efforts, the combined Buffalo-Rochester Metro Corridor offered a sophisticated, robust and compelling proposal that showcased the talents of our 2.2 million people and our extremely livable communities.”
The 20 finalists are:
- Atlanta
- Austin
- Boston
- Chicago
- Columbus, Ohio
- Dallas
- Denver
- Indianapolis
- Los Angeles
- Miami
- Montgomery County, Md.
- Nashville
- Newark
- New York City
- Northern Virginia
- Philadelphia
- Pittsburgh
- Raleigh, N.C.
- Toronto
- Washington, D.C.
“In Rochester we should all be proud of the proposal we put together, and the fact that we were viewed as a contender for the selection of the new Amazon Headquarters by national experts is a testament to Rochester’s growing economy and quality of life,” Mayor Lovely Warren said. “I would like to thank all of our partners who helped put together a compelling proposal, and together we will continue to explore every possible avenue to create more jobs and bring economic opportunity and equality to our citizens.”
Monroe County Executive Cheryl Dinolfo said, “fully participating in this process will help our community better compete for other global employers and jobs in the future, regardless of the end result. Our region likely scored highly on much of Amazon’s core selection criteria, particularly when it comes to our highly-skilled workforce and world-class colleges and universities. We can and will use those assets as opportunities to attract even more jobs and investment here moving forward.”
Greater Rochester Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Bob Duffy said that while he thought the region would make the top 20 or 25 and he was disappointed to hear it hadn’t, he didn’t think anything went wrong.
“I’m very proud of our submission. We put a great submission together, one I’m very proud of, one that really reinforced the strengths of this region,” Duffy said at a press gathering Thursday, noting that the proposal would be kept confidential. “Obviously Amazon was looking for larger metro areas, and one of the things I believe was going to be a deficit for us from the start was the international travel connections.
Duffy said the region has much to offer and Rochester has a number of companies already that do business with Amazon.
“I played sports my whole life,” Duffy said. “I find that in sports and in life, if you do your very best, you put forth your very best effort, you might not always win, but you feel pretty good about what you did.”
Duffy said the team that put together the proposal learned a lot and the process reinforced the strengths and pride we have in Rochester.
“I think it’s also put us on the radar for other companies already,” he added. “We sat with companies as recently as this week, which is a pretty exciting opportunity for us. We’re going to roll our sleeves up and go back at it.”
Duffy said the region has much to offer, including its affordability, a sentiment echoed in the statement from Hurlbutt and Kucharski.
“Our region boasts a number of key differentiators, including well-documented affordability, low operating costs, ease of travel—via bicycle, public transit, or automobile—extensive access to leisure/lifestyle activities, dynamic development site locations, an existing and evolving innovation ecosystem, 60-plus colleges and universities and a central location within the internationally significant U.S./Canada community,” Hurlbutt and Kucharski said.
Duffy, commenting on future plans, noted Apple’s announcement this week to build a new campus and add up to 20,000 jobs. He said “there is nothing we don’t go after when we hear about it.” Duffy also said he believes Amazon may have future opportunities that the region may benefit from.
“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,” said Holly Sullivan, Amazon Public Policy. “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.”
Amazon evaluated each of the proposals based on the criteria outlined in the request for proposals to create the list of 20 HQ2 candidates that will continue in the selection process. In the coming months, Amazon will work with the candidate locations to dive deeper into their proposals, request additional information, and evaluate the feasibility of a future partnership that can accommodate the company’s hiring plans as well as benefit its employees and the local community. Amazon expects to make a decision in 2018.