LOUISVILLE — The Louisville metropolitan area did not make Amazon’s cut as a possible location for the tech company’s second headquarters, but Indianapolis did.
Amazon received 238 applications from communities hopeful for the chance to bring up to 50,000 high-paying jobs to their area with the proposed, $5 billion second headquarters, or HQ2.
Amazon has narrowed down their search to 20 finalists: Indianapolis, Pittsburgh, Chicago, Nashville, Columbus, Boston, New York City, Newark (New Jersey), Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., Raleigh, Northern Virginia, Atlanta, Miami, Austin, Dallas, Los Angeles, Denver, Toronto and Montgomery County, Maryland.
Louisville, with the help of Southern Indiana, submitted its application by Amazon's Oct. 18 deadline. River Ridge Commerce Center and parts of Clarksville were some of the possible sites that the region offered up as a spot for the headquarters.
Experts weren’t afraid to call the submission a long shot, citing a lack of skilled workers, but local officials maintained a positive outlook, including One Southern Indiana President and CEO Wendy Dant Chesser and Jeffersonville Mayor Mike Moore.
On Thursday, Dant Chesser reacted to Louisville being left off the list of finalists.
“Well I’m disappointed,” she said. “Not necessarily surprised, but I am disappointed. I think that the competition was fierce. Amazon had shown their hand, if you will, on what it is that they were really going for, and we knew we were short on some of the criteria that they had requested. But we still worked with our regional partners and gave it a good shot and are pleased that we can use this as a learning opportunity the next time we have the chance to work with them.”
Dant Chesser said she would like to know why Amazon rejected Louisville’s application, but she also knows they likely won’t give feedback. She’s interested in studying the cities that were chosen as finalists instead.
One issue she already sees with the area is a lack of direct flights at the Louisville International Airport. Indianapolis, she said, has done a good job of adding those at their airport.
An Amazon official said in a news release that the company learned, through the process of accepting applications, about new communities across North America that could be considered for future investment and jobs.
“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 Molly Sullivan, an executive with Amazon Public Policy.
In the coming months, Amazon will work with finalists to “dive deeper into their proposals, request additional information” and evaluate the feasibility of a partnership that can accommodate the company’s hiring plans and benefits its employees and the local community.
Indianapolis' bid is a partnership between the city and its suburb of Fishers, although details of their application is being kept under wraps.
Communities are widely expected to provide massive incentives to score HQ2. New Jersey has offered as much as $5 billion in tax breaks for the headquarters. The State of Indiana’s economic development corporation, which is in charge of handing out incentives to companies, has said it’s “supportive” of Indianapolis’ application.
Dant Chesser said that Indianapolis being chosen for HQ2 would benefit the Southern Indiana area, not just directly, although a major headquarters a couple hours away could do that, but indirectly, as a new tax base generates more revenue for the state as a whole.
Dant Chesser said she loved that people she knew were celebrating in Indianapolis.
“They have some of the most progressive economic developers that I’ve ever worked with leading their charge in the Circle City, and I’m certainly very, very happy for them,” she said.
Amazon expects to make its final pick in 2018.