Atlanta, (and about 8 other major cities) have seen their hearts aflutter over the prospect of landing the tech-giant’s second headquarters and the 50,000 top tier jobs, $5 billion in corporate investment, and the almost incalculable economic impact it would bring.
With qualifiers like these:
- Metropolitan areas with more than one million people
- A stable and business-friendly environment
- Urban or suburban locations with the potential to attract and retain strong technical talent
- Communities that think big and creatively when considering locations and real estate options
The Atlanta metro seems to check off all the boxes, but so do a handful of other east coast cities who will all be brawling to see who can put together the most attractive incentive package to lure the company to the South. Georgia Governor Nathan Deal and his economic development team, for all their successes, haven’t quite been able to lure a mid-sized or larger office from any of the FAANG (Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix, Google) companies that are among the hottest (and most profitable) in the world. Pulling Amazon’s HQ2 would be the crown jewel in Deal’s business friendly legacy, and you can count on him putting on the full court press as he enters the stretch run of his governorship.
Atlanta does have some ties to the Seattle based company though, and more to come. Fabric.com operates its largest warehouse out of Kennesaw, and Amazon itself already has a small office in the Terminus building in Buckhead. Currently the company lists 43 available positions in and around Atlanta on its website split between the two outposts.
This week the company announced it would be opening a new logistics hub that will employ around 150 people in Atlantic Station in Midtown. While that number is a drop in the pond compared to what a second headquarters would bring to the state, any increase in Amazon’s local presence has to be considered a good thing. Expect to see some welcome flowers, (maybe some barbecue?) sent from Georgia Economic Development Commissioner Pat Wilson when they open their doors later this year.
