ATLANTA — Channel 2 Action News has learned that representatives from Amazon visited Atlanta this week as part of their search for its second headquarters.
HQ2 could bring a $5 billion campus with as many as 50,000 jobs to the region.
#Breaking We've confirmed that Amazon representatives were in Metro Atlanta this week touring potential sites for its east coast headquarters.
— Richard Elliot (@RElliotWSB) March 30, 2018
Amazon identified Atlanta as one of 20 finalists for HQ2, and the company started visiting contenders in recent weeks.
Amazon officials reportedly toured sites in and around Washington, D.C., where the district and two suburbs are among the 20 finalists. Denver, Dallas-Fort Worth and Austin also reportedly received Amazon officials.
“We’re excited to visit each location and talk about how HQ2 could benefit our employees and the local community,” Amazon said in a statement.
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Metro Atlanta made Amazon's top 20 list for potential HQ2 sites in January. Amazon could bring 50,000 jobs and $5-billion in investments to Georgia.
— Richard Elliot (@RElliotWSB) March 30, 2018
Veteran recruiters point to Georgia’s long courtship of Mercedes-Benz for its USA headquarters as a template for how the Amazon deal could go down: quiet meetings, unrelenting involvement by high-level government officials, a push for more cooperation and cutthroat competition with rival cities.
Gov. Nathan Deal has pledged a special session to hash out incentives if Georgia is named a top finalist, but some candidates and lawmakers from both parties are squeamish about doling out high-dollar perks before the election.
Georgia Economic Development Commissioner Pat Wilson said he was "excited to have the opportunity to welcome Amazon to Georgia this week."
— Richard Elliot (@RElliotWSB) March 30, 2018
Information from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution was used in this report.
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