The United States will be getting a new Amazon headquarters, but Missouri failed to make the cut.
The e-commerce giant has narrowed the list of potential sites for its second headquarters to 20 locations and neither Kansas City or St. Louis made the cut.
Those that made the list are: Atlanta; Austin, Texas; Boston; Chicago; Columbus, Ohio; Dallas; Denver; Indianapolis; Los Angeles; Miami; Montgomery County, Maryland; Nashville, Tennessee; Newark, New Jersey; New York City; Northern Virginia; Philadelphia; Pittsburgh; Raleigh, North Carolina; Toronto; and Washington, D.C.
Last fall, Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens went all out to entice the online retailer, telling Amazon that while St. Louis and Kansas City made their own pitches, they could have both cities if they chose the state of Missouri.
“While each proposal stands on its own, I also encourage you to envision what Amazon could achieve by partnering with us to unleash the combined strength of the entire State of Missouri,” Greitens wrote to Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos.
A lot of cities across the nation threw their hat into the racing, hoping to land what looks to be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to the promised land of economic prosperity: a $5 billion project that could amount to 50,000 high-paying jobs.
The e-commerce giant received 238 proposals from cities and regions from 54 states, provinces, districts and territories all across North America.
“Getting from 238 to 20 was very tough — all the proposals showed tremendous enthusiasm and creativity,” Holly Sullivan of Amazon Public Policy said in a statement. “Through this process, we learned about many new communities across North America that we will consider as locations for future infrastructure investment and job creation.”
Amazon said the company will “evaluate the feasibility of a future partnership” in the coming months and should make a final decision this year.
In the proposal to Amazon, Greitens touted the potential Hyperloop route between St. Louis and Kansas City. The high-speed transportation system could revolutionize the transportation of goods and cut the four-hour drive to a 25-minute trip.
Governor pitches Missouri to Amazon, touting hyperloop and the future
The Missouri route was not a picked by Hyperloop One as a finalist for places to build the first hyperloop high-speed travel system.
Of the ten locations under consideration worldwide, four routes are in the U.S. — Chicago to Columbus to Pittsburgh; Dallas to Laredo to Houston; Cheyenne to Denver to Pueblo; Miami to Orlando.
However, the Missouri Hyperloop Coalition was developed to look into the feasibility of constructing a hyperloop in Missouri.
Rob Lloyd, CEO of Virgin Hyperloop One, has committed to working with Missouri to move the feasibility study forward, and members of the project have called the proposed route in Missouri, from St. Louis to Kansas City, one of the “best we’ve ever seen.”
Whether Amazon’s decision will affect the potential hyperloop still remains to be seen.
Alisha Shurr was a reporter for The Missouri Times and The Missouri Times Magazine. She joined The Missouri Times in January 2018 after working as a copy editor for her hometown newspaper in Southern Oregon. Alisha is a graduate of Kansas State University.
