St. Louis Submits Amazon HQ2 Bid, State Of Missouri To Follow

ST. LOUIS, MO — St. Louis officials submitted the city's bid for Amazon's new headquarters, known as HQ2, Thursday morning. The expansion, which is to equal the company's Seattle headquarters in size, is expected to create up to 50,000 new jobs and inject billions of dollars into the local economy of the winning city.

"We feel confident we’ve assembled the most attractive proposal Amazon is going to receive,” St. Louis Economic Development Partnership CEO Sheila Sweeney said in a statement. “It shines a spotlight on all of the tremendous assets St. Louis has to offer. We tick all of the boxes for Amazon’s HQ2 — a strong workforce, urban site availability, mass transit and a great cost of living. Not to mention we over deliver on cultural amenities and easy commutes. I can’t wait for Amazon executives to see what’s possible in St. Louis and consider us for their next home.”

St. Louis Mayor Lyda Krewson said that St. Louis is the city that most closely fits Amazon's requirements for HQ2. Those requirements include a stable and business-friendly environment, good transportation infrastructure, a diverse population and compatible cultural environment.

State and local officials have signed a non-disclosure agreement with Amazon, meaning the details of the bid— including any tax incentives promised to the Seattle giant — will remain secret for now.

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“We have a very important agreement with Amazon not to share details of this proposal publicly, which I hope that everyone understands,” St. Clair County Board Chairman Mark Kern said. “But the important part is that we are working together. This is the first time I can remember Missouri and Illinois working in unison on a Mississippi River development project. That is a big first. It’s a visionary proposal.”

The St. Louis Business Journal also reports today that the state of Missouri will also submit its own independent bid to Amazon, complete with a futuristic proposal for a "hyperloop" connecting St. Louis and Kansas City.

[Missouri Chief Operating Officer Drew] Erdmann said the proposal would feature Hyperloop One, a Los Angeles-based private company with a mission of transforming transportation through its ultra-fast Hyperloop system. He said technological changes over the next decade or two could allow for an “innovation corridor” between the two cities, and include a stop in Columbia, home of the University of Missouri’s flagship campus.

St. Louis was not among a list of 15 metros contending for HQ2 included in a study by the real estate website Apartment List. "In Seattle, home of the company’s current headquarters, the influx of high-paid Amazon employees has coincided with rent increases that outpace almost all other U.S. cities and the fastest growth rate in home prices nationwide," the report said.

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