Chicago Hopes to Land Amazon's Second Headquarters
Amazon is planning to build a second headquarters outside of its home city of Seattle, and Chicago is aiming to nab this sought-after development, according to Curbed Chicago.
The e-commerce giant is willing to spend up to $5 billion to make its HQ2 campus a reality. The new corporate headquarters would bring with it about 50,000 jobs, according to the report. Mayor Rahm Emanuel has reportedly already spoken with Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos about the possibility of Chicago becoming Amazon’s second home city.
HQ2 wouldn’t be Amazon’s first Chicago development. Amazon recently made the decision to double the size of its existing downtown Chicago office. The company also opened several new facilities in the city’s suburbs. Chicago’s central location and status as a major transportation hub make it an attractive option for Amazon, according to the report.
Such a high-profile project and all of the accompanying money and jobs means Chicago has plenty of competition from other locations. Several other states offer tax credits geared toward the tech industry, something Illinois does not do. Curbed Chicago named Atlanta as one of Chicago’s biggest competitors in this race.
If Chicago were to win Amazon’s second headquarters, the city has plenty of potential sites for the campus. For example, the city’s Old Post Office building has 2.5 million square feet of space that is expected to be ready for office use by 2019, according to the report. Plus, Chicago’s North Branch and the space between the South Loop and Chinatown are amid transformative developments that will be ripe for new tenants.