Boston hoping to be home for Amazon’s HQ2

EAST BOSTON (WHDH) — When Amazon announced its desire to build a second headquarters in another city other than Seattle, it sent major cities across the country into a frenzy, Boston included.

Mayor Marty Walsh has told 7News that he and other city leaders are now working on a proposal to appeal to Amazon saying, “We’ve been approached by a couple of other developers in the city of Boston that are interested in possibly putting something together… and we’ll see what happens. I feel good about our team.”

Amazon’s benefits go much farther than brand name. The opening of a second headquarters is expected to be a $5 billion project and overtime bring-in over 50,000 jobs. Amazon has told cities it wishes to be in a walkable transportation hub with access to an educated workforce and universities. Mayor Walsh says Boston not only offers both, but also Logan International Airport is an advantage.

“We have 51 direct flights now to international cities that’s something that’s important to Amazon,” said Walsh.

But Mayor Walsh says there may be one obstacle to Boston’s appeal to Amazon, which would be housing.

Mayor Walsh asking, “Where are those 50,000 people going to live?” So Walsh says, “We’re going to be looking at certain areas and other cities and towns as well, and ways of getting people in.”

Overall, Walsh didn’t want to specify what area of Boston city leaders are looking at, and he didn’t want to give out too much information because “it’s a competition,” says Walsh. Other cities that many experts believe to be favorites are Chicago, Dallas and Minneapolis. Proposals are due October 17, 2017 and Amazon is expected to announce the winning city in 2018.

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