The other 18 contenders for Amazon’s second headquarters, HQ2, are the real winners in the selection process that saw Northern Virginia and New York land on top, according to a real estate researcher at The University of Alabama.
The 18 finalists, indeed all 238 cities that competed for the coveted Amazon HQ2, were able to position themselves publicly as places who could support a tech workforce, said K.C. Conway director of research for the Alabama Center for Real Estate at UA and chief economist for the CCIM Institute in Chicago.
“They have redefined their city's economic profile in a manner that is now known by many more companies and industries looking to relocate logistics, manufacturing, e-commerce and other criteria,” Conway said.
With Amazon’s inevitable poaching of existing workforce in Northern Virginia and New York, driving up wages and home prices beyond the reach of both employers and employees, these other metropolitan areas will reap the benefits of tech companies looking to relocate, according to Conway.
He points to Atlanta, who just won Norfolk Southern’s HQ move, and San Antonio, Texas, with its cybersecurity hub of Port of San Antonio, as prime examples of two likely beneficiaries of the Amazon HQ2 fallout.
Conway predicted earlier that Amazon would split operations among several cities, even naming Crystal City in Virginia as a possibility.
“After a lengthy and high-profile site selection process, Amazon has made a decision -- or shall we say a split decision -- one that doesn't exactly square with its RFP,” Conway said. “If Amazon learned anything from its HQ2 search, it was that Amazon is too big for any one city.
A white paper earlier this by Conway showed Amazon’s process might shift how site selection is done by major companies, but he said how that selection process played out was different. He gives a “D” grade to the integrity of the Request For Proposals.
“Amazon said it was all about workforce availability yet it couldn't have picked two cities with a higher Skills Gap and shortage of workers,” he said. “Amazon HQ2 decision is going to prove worse than had it stayed in Seattle with respect to workforce availability.”
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