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Amazon’s HQ2 surveyors have yet to come to Pittsburgh, but many say there’s no reason to worry

Associated Press

Amazon’s HQ2 surveyors have yet to come to Pittsburgh, but many say there’s no reason to worry

It’s enough to feed Pittsburgh’s long-held inferiority complex. Amazon has scoured Washington, D.C., Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Atlanta, and even cross-state rival Philadelphia — apparently 10 of the 20 finalists in all — in its search for a second headquarters.

But not the Steel City, at least as far as anyone can tell. So far the visits appear to have been to some of the largest cities on the finalist list. Does that make them the frontrunners? Should Pittsburgh be worried? What exactly can we read from where Amazon has gone to date?

Almost nothing, site selection experts say.

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They caution against making too much from the list of cities that the e-commerce behemoth has toured to date, noting there are a number of factors — mostly based on logistics — that go into such visits.

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In fact, it would be a “fool’s errand” trying to discern much from where Amazon has landed so far, said Tom Stringer, a managing director at professional services firm BDO’s New York office.

He noted such visits often are dependent on flights, who’s available from each side, and other such factors. “This is an exercise in logistics right now,” he stressed.

Based on news reports, Amazon has made formal visits to Washington, D.C.; northern Virginia; Montgomery County, Maryland; Atlanta; Austin; Boston; Dallas; Denver; Philadelphia; and Chicago.

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With 50,000 jobs and $5 billion in investment at stake in the HQ2 sweepstakes, the search has been cloaked in secrecy.

After word leaked out about a trip made to Washington and its two suburban contenders around March 1, Amazon acknowledged that it had started visiting the 20 finalist cities, but the company has had little else to say.

“Amazon is working with each HQ2 candidate city to dive deeper on their proposals and share additional information about the company’s plans. We’re excited to visit each location and talk about how HQ2 could benefit our employees and the local community,” its statement read.

Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto said March 7 that Amazon had yet to schedule a formal visit, although he suspected the company has done its own private reconnaissance. After all, Amazon has a South Side tech hub and a warehouse in Fairywood.

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Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald refused to say Monday whether or not Amazon had visited and he cautioned against making assumptions.

“We know that there have been folks on the ground in lots of cities. That I’m pretty confident of,” Mr. Fitzgerald said. “They’ve been very quiet about what they’ve been doing. We’re respecting that, and we’re going to honor that.”

Nonetheless, the county executive said he didn’t read anything into the visits, one way or the other, that have been reported so far.

“I feel very confident that we are in a very competitive position,” he said, citing the Pittsburgh region’s quality of life, its tech pipeline, and site availability as among its strengths in the competition.

Another member of the don’t-worry-yet camp is John Boyd, principal of The Boyd Co., a Princeton, N.J.-based site selection consultant.

Like Mr. Stringer, he said coordinating site visits depends on a myriad of factors, including the availability of key officials on both sides. 

“Amazon is doing what it said it would do. It is visiting the 20 cities. It will get around to visiting all of the cities. Some cities require more work to do than others,” he said.

“They almost owe it to Pittsburgh, these 20 markets, to do a site tour, to do a field visit,” he added. “They promised Pittsburgh. We have no reason to suspect they won’t do [a visit].”

Other contenders yet to receive a visit — at least based on the available information -— include New York City, Newark, Los Angeles, Miami, Indianapolis, Nashville, and Columbus.

While it is hard to tell exactly when Amazon might be showing up in a city, there might be some tip-offs.

In Chicago, for instance, where Amazon toured last week, the city scrubbed away graffiti near some of the sites targeted for HQ2 in the weeks before the visit. The move backfired when the work of a French street artist was accidentally removed in the blitz.

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While the Pittsburgh region “wants to put its best foot forward” for a visit by Amazon or any other company, no extraordinary measures are being planned, Mr. Fitzgerald said.

“As a normal course of business, potholes get repaired, trash gets picked up. Would there be anything above and beyond? I can’t think of anything like that,” he said.

With so much on the line in terms of potential economic development, some regions have begun to up the ante. The Maryland state senate earlier this month signed off on $5.6 billion in tax incentives to lure Amazon, up from an earlier estimate of $3 billion. That’s right behind the $7 billion being offered by New Jersey.

Pennsylvania is believed to be offering at least $1 billion in incentives, although that has not been publicly disclosed. Pittsburgh and Allegheny County have refused to release the region’s HQ2 proposal, including any subsidies being offered, despite a state open records office ruling stating that the bid should be made public. The decision is under appeal.

Stonecrest, Georgia, part of Atlanta’s bid, is taking a different approach. Its mayor is offering to de-annex 345 acres and create a new city named “Amazon, Georgia.” It also is promising to build an expressway and name it “1000 Jeff Bezos Parkway” after the Amazon founder and CEO.

Whether Pittsburgh has offered to name part of the city after Mr. Bezos is not known.

Regardless, Jerry Szatan, principal and owner of Szatan & Associates, a Chicago-based site selection and economic development consulting firm, said the region shouldn’t get worked up if Amazon hasn’t come calling yet.

Pessimism might be in order, he said, “if you get to Dec. 1 and you haven’t been visited, and they haven’t made an announcement.”

Mark Belko: mbelko@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1262.

First Published: March 27, 2018, 11:30 a.m.
Updated: March 27, 2018, 11:48 a.m.

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