Most of Amazon's 20 HQ2 Contenders Are East of the Mississippi; 2018 Decision Eyed

Amazon whittled down its list of 238 proposals from North American metropolitan areas to 20 now being considered for HQ2, its second headquarters for the continent. Four finalists for the headquarters, which will complement the Seattle campus, are west of the Mississippi, and three are in the Washington, D.C., area. Remaining contenders, it said, are Atlanta; Austin; Boston; Chicago; Columbus, Ohio; Dallas; Denver; Indianapolis; Los Angeles; Miami; Montgomery County, Maryland; Nashville; Newark, New Jersey; New York; Northern Virginia; Philadelphia; Pittsburgh; Raleigh, North Carolina; Toronto; and Washington, D.C. Amazon HQ2 will be a complete headquarters for Amazon, “not a satellite office,” it said. The company plans to invest over $5 billion and eventually accommodate up to 50,000 “high-paying jobs,” the company said. It expects to create “tens of thousands of additional jobs and tens of billions of dollars in additional investment in the surrounding community.” Amazon plans to make the HQ2 decision this year.