The cities of Cedar Park and Leander are among cities and regions across North America vying for a spot as Amazon.com Inc.’s second headquarters.

On Sept. 7, Amazon announced it was opening a search for a second headquarters to join its Seattle facilities. The company expects to invest over $5 billion in the construction of the expansion, which could generate up to 50,000 jobs, according to Amazon’s website.

Amazon recommended interested jurisdictions submit one request for proposal per metropolitan statistical area, or MSA. The proposals could include multiple sites throughout the MSA, according to Amazon documents.

The Austin Chamber of Commerce studied between 40-50 locations within the Austin-Round Rock MSA for the area’s proposal that was submitted in mid-October, said Kerry Hall, vice chairwoman of economic development for the chamber. According to city officials, sites in both Cedar Park and Leander made the cut for the final proposal.

“We are excited to be part of the proposal that’s going from the Greater Austin area,” said Phil Brewer, director of economic development for Cedar Park. If the city is selected, “it would be a tremendous impact on Williamson County; the whole Greater Austin area would benefit from an Amazon location in Central Texas.”

WHAT WAS SUBMITTED
Amazon stated in its request for proposal that it is looking for a second headquarters location with the following qualities:

• in a metropolitan area with a population over 1 million; 30 miles from the population center; urban or uburban; “potential to attract and retain strong technical talent;” and business-friendly.

The company also said the ideal site would be not more than approximately 45 minutes from an international airport, within 1-2 miles from major highways and arterial roads, and have access to mass transportation on-site.

Leander Economic Development Director Mark Willis said a site within Leander’s transit-oriented development district was among the top locations in the Austin chamber’s proposal because of the Capital Metro commuter rail that runs through the city.

“They’re really big on transportation, and the train was what put us over the top,” he said.

Willis explained how the Austin-area proposal organized potential sites into tiers that were prioritized based on whether or not the sites met most of Amazon’s criteria. Although he did not see the final proposal, he said it appears Leander made it into the top tier. That status allowed the city to contribute additional information about the site—which is located on 103 usable, undeveloped acres north of Hero Way West, east of US 183 and west of Toll 183A—to the company.

“We think we’re in a great position because you can get downtown fast but you don’t have to live downtown, and then you can escape to the Highland Lakes,” Willis said.

Cedar Park submitted a site on Parmer Lane, just south of RM 1431, Brewer said. Cedar Park’s proposal was Tier 2, he said. The city met some of Amazon’s requirements but had no direct access to mass transit, although Brewer said the city included an explanation and remedies to the issue.

“We know that companies like Amazon, when they’re looking at cities, are looking for transit,” said Sam Sargent, the interim program manager for Capital Metro. “Many of their employees, maybe they come from a city where they’re very used to transit, or maybe it’s very expensive to provide parking for that many employees.”

AUSTIN’S CHANCES
Amazon received 238 proposals from cities and regions across the continent, according to the company’s website.

A report by Moody’s Analytics, Inc., a company which offers risk management and measurement tools, states that Austin is the most qualified spot for Amazon’s second headquarters.

The report analyzed 68 metro areas with over 1 million residents, ranking each on a scale of 1 to 5 for five of Amazon’s criteria: the business environment, human capital, cost, quality of life and transportation.

However, alternate studies yield varying results. A study by Reis, Inc., a commercial real estate data and market analytics company, did not name Austin among the top 25 locations for the headquarters. The analysis looked at business environment, labor force, transportation, cultural community and quality of life.
If the Austin area was to land Amazon, no matter which jurisdiction, it would boost the entire region, Cedar Park Mayor Matt Powell said.

“The important thing is that the Austin region work together collaboratively,” he said.

AMAZON’S EFFECTS ON THE CITIES
Amazon is expected to make a decision on its second headquarters location next year, Willis said. The project could bring 50,000 new jobs with average salaries above $100,000 to the area the company selects, according to Amazon’s request for proposal.

“We would see an even faster development of the city,” Willis said. “This would be completely off any scale we’ve got at this point.”

Amazon said complete build-out of the headquarters’ campus could take 17 years, a timetable Willis said the city could accommodate.

Such growth would likely set off a domino effect for other development in the area, said Bridget Brandt, Leander Chamber of Commerce & Visitors Center president and chief operating officer.

“When you have a big employer that comes; it brings other businesses to go with it; it brings more daytime traffic; when you have more daytime traffic you have more restaurants; everything just magnifies,” she said. “That’s a good thing; that’s what people are wanting for Leander is more options.”

Logistically, Brewer said having a company of Amazon’s size would be “overwhelming.”

“It’s over a 15- or 17-year build-out, but still that equates to over 3,000 jobs a year,” he said. “That’s a lot of jobs for any community to handle in terms of infrastructure and services.”

INCENTIVIZING GROWTH
With hundreds of sites across the country contending for Amazon’s choice, the competition will be “fierce, to put it mildly,” Willis said. He said he thinks the first contest will be between individual states, which may compete by offering different levels of incentives.

“The state may step up good enough; it’s just hard to predict,” he said.

Brewer said Amazon has weighted incentives higher than companies typically do during the bidding process. He said businesses do not often make location decisions based on incentive packages, but instead incentives will be the tipping point when choices are narrowed down to several equal options.

“They made it very clear in their request for proposal that this was a key factor for them,” Brewer said. “They’re looking at a tremendous amount of money.”

Cedar Park funds economic development through its 4A and 4B boards, and Leander through programs including the tax increment reinvestment zone. Although representatives with both cities mentioned they would be willing to contribute to the development of Amazon’s headquarters, neither included specific offers in the Austin-area proposal, Brewer and Willis said.

“I still think we’re a really, really long shot,” Willis said. “I think Austin may get serious consideration, but we’re pretty far away from the airport and some of the other stuff that they like.”

FUTURE BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT
Whether Amazon is precisely the right fit, Cedar Park and Leander are headed toward economic development in the future.

“If it was 5,000 instead of 50,000 [jobs], we could handle that type of project infrastructure-wise, community-wise,” Brewer said.

He said the city wants to maintain diverse types of jobs for all members of the community, but with a focus on high-tech because Cedar Park has a “very educated” workforce. Approximately 44 percent of Cedar Park’s residents have a bachelor’s degree or higher according to 2016 statistics from the Cedar Park Chamber of Commerce.

Leander, too, looks for high-paying, primary employers, aiming for jobs paying a base salary of $50,000 with benefits, according to Willis.

“We could stay a bedroom community and concentrate just on getting entertainment and service [industry jobs],” he said. “But the vision the city has is more than that, is being more of a standalone city. We may not get Amazon, but we’ll get other stuff.”

Reporting contributed by Joe Warner and JJ Velasquez.