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San Diego Amazon proposal facing more than 200 competitors

San Diego Amazon proposal facing more than 200 competitors
Posted at 1:27 PM, Oct 23, 2017
and last updated 2017-10-23 16:33:11-04

SAN DIEGO (CNS) - The San Diego region's bid for Amazon's second headquarters will face well over 200 competitors from municipalities around North America, the online retailer announced today.

Via Twitter, the company said, "We received 238 proposals from across North America for HQ2. The team is excited to review each of them!"

Amazon also published a map that showed bids were received from cities in most U.S. states, Puerto Rico, six provinces in Canada and three provinces in Mexico.

RELATED: Chula Vista City Council passes $400-million incentive package to attract Amazon headquarters

The Seattle-based internet giant plans to spend more than $5 billion on what it calls HQ2, which will provide 50,000 new high-paying jobs and support thousands of construction and other related positions.

San Diego's proposal was submitted last week by the San Diego Regional Economic Development Corp. The plan proposes four sites -- Chula Vista, downtown, Mission Valley and Otay Mesa.

The Chula Vista proposal was bolstered last week when its City Council approved a $400 million incentive package for Amazon, which would have HQ2 incorporated into the city's Millenia mixed-use mega-development.

Chula Vista would provide the company with 85 acres valued at $100 million and tax breaks of $300 million over 10 years.

Amazon could also partner with Chula Vista in its ongoing plans to bring a four-year university to the city. The San Diego County Board of Supervisors also voted to send a letter to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos in support of the local bid.

Amazon already has a large presence in San Diego after leasing more than 100,000 square feet of office space in University City. But the region faces stiff competition in the bidding war with numerous other cities offering land and tax incentives.

Moody's Analytics recently published a top 10 list of metropolitan areas that best fit Amazon's published desires for an HQ2 site, and San Diego was not included. Austin-Round Rock, Texas, was rated first and Atlanta was second.

Some analysts believe that the company will want to diversify geographically away from the West Coast. The company's main headquarters is in Seattle. Amazon is expected to announce a winner next year.