Boone County has submitted five sites to the state for consideration as possible locations for Amazon’s second headquarters, a $5 billion investment that would bring 50,000 jobs to the area selected.
The Boone County Economic Development Corp. yesterday submitted the sites to the Indiana Chamber of Commerce, which is helping coordinate a proposal for the entire region. The five sites are scattered throughout the county, said Molly Whitehead, executive director of the Boone County EDC. She declined to name their exact locations.
The state will look at the five Boone County sites, along with others throughout Central Indiana, and choose finalists to submit with the proposal that will go to Amazon.
“(The Indiana Chamber of Commerce) asked for our best sites or buildings to match what Amazon requested,” Whitehead said. “They’ll work on it from there, making sure they submit the best sites that fit the requirements.”
Amazon announced its plans to build another headquarters, in addition to its Seattle campus, late last week. The tech company asked cities nationwide to submit proposals by Oct. 19.
On Monday, Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett and Fishers Mayor Scott Fadness announced that their two cities would create a team of local leaders to assist their efforts to present Central Indiana to Amazon, according to a WISH-TV story.
In the Request for Proposal, Amazon listed several criteria that submissions should meet. The location must be:
Amazon will look at both empty lots of at least 100 acres and existing structures at least 500,000 square feet with room to expand, the RFP states.
The qualifications listed by Amazon narrowed down Boone County’s options significantly, Whitehead said.
She expects to hear from the Indiana Chamber of Commerce relatively soon on whether any of the five Boone County sites will make it into Central Indiana’s final submission.
“They would need our assistance at the local level on any incentives offered by the municipality or county,” she said. “They would need our help putting those pieces together.”
Whitehead, along with officials from Zionsville, Lebanon and Whitestown, all emphasized that this is a regional effort first. No matter where the headquarters potentially landed, all local municipalities would see positive effects.
“No matter where they locate in Central Indiana would be a complete game-changer,” Whitehead said. “It would change our landscape very much for the better.
From a regional perspective, even if Boone County was not the final location, we would still stand to benefit from the people who want to live or dine or shop here.”
Whitehead spoke with the officials from Zionsville, Lebanon and Whitestown before making her submission to the state. All three towns are located close to Indianapolis, are near a highway, and have land or existing buildings that Amazon would be able to move to. What Boone County, and Central Indiana as a whole, does not have, however, is public transportation.
“We don’t know if that is going to be their final decision maker or if they’ll be willing to work with communities that are able to address that issue for them,” Whitehead said.
Whitestown Town Manager Dax Norton said that he reached out to Indianapolis Mayor Hogsett the day Amazon announced its search for a second headquarters. Whitestown is already home to an Amazon fulfillment center and has more space in the Anson development, where that center is located, he said.
“We are in a great position if it looks like Amazon’s desire is to come to Central Indiana and end up in suburbs,” Norton said. “There are a number of positive factors for us right now.”
Norton wanted to offer Whitestown’s support for Indianapolis and ensure that Whitestown remains in the running.
“We just wanted to show our respect for (Hogsett’s) effort and our support for Indianapolis’s effort in leading the region, and then be at the table if at the end of the day what happens is it ends up heading to a suburban area,” he said.
Though competition could become fierce, Norton, along with officials from Lebanon and Zionsville, said that the region should be working together to try to pull Amazon to Indiana.
“It would be a win for the entire state,” Zionsville Mayor Tim Haak said. “We would be working together no matter where it ends up. Even if it ends up in Indianapolis we get a lot of byproduct projects around the area. People live here and shop here.”
Lebanon Mayor Matt Gentry was less optimistic about the region’s odds of getting chosen, but still said he had identified several sites in Lebanon that would make for “interesting places for Amazon.”
He may have had good reason to doubt. On Tuesday Bloomberg reported that several Amazon executives want to locate the headquarters in Boston because of its proximity to prestigious universities, a busy airport and the city’s low cost of living.
The goal of all of Central Indiana right now should be to convince Amazon that Central Indiana is the best place to move. After that is done, the focus can turn to Boone County specifically Gentry said.
And even if Amazon does not choose Central Indiana, the effort will be a learning experience, he said.
“At least we can start having a discussion on how to work together better as a larger region,” Gentry said. “Anything that helps us in that is beneficial in the long term.”
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