Philly Bids to House Amazon’s Second HQ

Amazon is looking for a nice home for its second United States headquarters, and Philadelphia’s leadership believes the City of Brotherly Love could be just the location they seek. I’ve just got to say that this news excites me personally, because my Amazon Prime membership is LIFE and anything that enhances my ability to watch free movies and have impulse purchases delivered to my doorstep in 1-2 business days is thrilling. Mayor Jim Kenney has been enthusiastically endorsing the idea of the megacorporation throwing their hat into the ring, even making corny jokes on Twitter this morning: “We think Philadelphia would be a PRIME location for Amazon that would make people SMILE! Look forward to submitting a proposal!”

Amazon is looking for a home for their new headquarters. Philadelphia is throwing its hat in the ring.

The governor of Pennsylvania, Tom Wolf, is also in on the push. “We are aware of the proposal from Amazon and are exploring how we can showcase Pennsylvania’s world class cities as potential homes for Amazon’s growth,” said a spokesman J.J. Abbott from the governor’s press office. “Some of our economic development team had a call already this morning when the news came out.”

Word has it that Amazon wants some specific criteria in their new hometown. The list includes metropolitan areas with more than one million people, a stable and business-friendly environment, urban or suburban locations with the potential to attract and retain strong technical talent, and communities that think big and creatively when considering locations and real estate options.

Philadelphia faces some stiff competition in the bid to draw Amazon to their city. Also placing bids on the headquarters gig are Tulsa, Memphis and St. Louis. Some reports say that Chicago is currently the frontrunner and that mayor Rahm Emanuel has been having tete-a-tetes with Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos about negotiations.

Amazon’s final decision will come in 2018, after a negotiations and decision process that has been playfully dubbed “Amazon Idol” by the press.