DALLAS — Hours after Amazon announced its plans to split its new headquarters across two cities on the east coast, city leaders in Dallas began responding to the decision.
”We don’t like to lose,” Mayor Mike Rawlings said. “This does not make us happy.” The Mayor’s strong reaction came hours after receiving a phone call from Amazon representatives. He said during the 10-minute call, he was advised DFW lost out on its bid for Amazon’s new headquarters called HQ2. "We competed hard. We competed well, but we did not succeed," Rawlings said.
Amazon announced it will be splitting its new headquarters between New York City and Crystal City, Virginia. Members of the Dallas Regional Chamber, who have been handling a unified Dallas-Fort Worth bid over the last year, thought this area had a winning chance. "We are competitive,” said Dale Petroskey, President of Dallas Regional Chamber. “We are used to winning. So, of course, we are disappointed.”
City leaders said Amazon pinpointed three potential areas near Downtown. They were eying areas south of City Hall, The Cedars, and a spot by Reunion Tower as potential locations. The Amazon deal would have been a major driver of economic development for Dallas. It would have brought 50,000 workers to its campus, and an estimated several billion dollars to the local economy.
So, how did Dallas come up short?
"One, they admitted that there was a fascination with the east coast.” He added, “They said the talent that they could get immediately was there in the two locations they chose."
Though the decision was disappointing for Dallas, all is not lost in the relationship between Amazon and this city. The company is building a new distribution center on Chalk Hill Road, near I-30 in West Dallas. The site will hire 1,500 full-time workers when it opens in 2020.
Mayor Rawlings said the team learned a lot from this experience. He explained, moving forward, his team will also be focused on convincing lawmakers to better fund public schools and higher education.