Today is the day. The Dallas Regional Chamber and dozens of other Metropolitan Statistical Areas have submitted a bid for Amazon’s second headquarters which promises 50,000 jobs.
The DRC isn’t commenting on exactly how many sites are included in the bid, but it’s safe to say more than 30 sites have pitched for the tech behemoth.
In Frisco, even Alexa thinks Amazon should come to town. The Reunion Area, Deep Ellum, Dallas Midtown, Victory Park, Allen, and dozens of others have offered up sites.
But when it came to answering the request for proposals, Dallas Regional Chamber Senior Vice President Darren Grubb says the strategy was simple: stick to the fundamentals.
“We have a great story to tell, so we really kept our eye on the fundamental nature of providing data and all the information [Amazon] requested,” he says. “This is work we do every day. The only difference is how public [this RFP] was.”
In a world where corporate relocations often come with project code names, false identities, and fake business cards to protect a business’s anonymity while site selecting, Amazon’s very public process sticks out as unusual. As part of its answer, the DRC built a custom map-based website strictly for Amazon’s eyes, and a feel-good video that we’ve included below.
Amazon can expect a bid from virtually every MSA over one million people, except, notably, San Antonio. In a letter to Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg says, “It’s hard to imagine that a forward-thinking company like Amazon hasn’t already selected its preferred location.”
Predetermined or not, as one savvy DFW resident says around 35 seconds in the video, Amazon should consider this region because of margaritas.
