St. Louis, MO (KTRS) Amazon will not build its second headquarters in St. Louis.
On Thursday, the Seattle-based company released its finalist list of metropolitan cities being considered for the project and the Gateway City didn’t make the cut, nor did Kansas City. Missouri leaders also submitted a bid separate from the two cities that would have involved an innovation corridor between Kansas City and St. Louis. That proposal didn’t make the list either.
“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.”
The news of St. Louis not making the cut has generated reaction from local officials.
St. Louis Mayor Lyda Krewson tweeted the following response:
“Working together as a region on @Amazon #HQ2 forced us to focus on our assets. We will continue to use the proposal we put together as a blueprint for growth.”
St. Louis County Executive Steve Stenger seemed to have a similar view.
“The St. Louis Economic Development Partnership, with the help of elected officials, as well as business and civic leaders from throughout the region, presented an innovative, thorough and thoughtful proposal to Amazon. Our submission resulted from a coordinated effort between St. Louis County, the city of St. Louis, St. Charles County and Illinois. This is a valuable template and we will use many aspects of the Amazon plan to attract business and commerce to our region in the future.” Stenger said.
The 20 cities chosen as finalists are as follows in alphabetical order:
– 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.
Amazon stated in a press release how it reached it decision in selecting the 20 candidate cities:
Amazon evaluated each of the proposals based on the criteria outlined in the RFP to create the list of 20 HQ2 candidates that will continue in the selection process. In the coming months, Amazon will work with each of 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 is expected to announce the winning city in 2018.
