More than 230 regional bids later, Seattle-based tech giant Amazon released the top 20 cities that will proceed in the battle for its second North American headquarters (HQ2). San Diego/Chula Vista did not make the cut.
Today we are announcing the communities that will proceed to the next step in the HQ2 process. Getting from 238 to 20 was very tough – all the proposals showed tremendous enthusiasm and creativity https://t.co/x1bFYbk4Ui pic.twitter.com/J2x0HHzBTR
— Amazon News (@amazonnews) January 18, 2018
In response, EDC president and CEO Mark Cafferty released the following statement:
“While disappointed San Diego/Chula Vista did not advance, we are not at all surprised. We knew that this would be a long-shot based on geography and incentive options, but we also know that as a region, San Diego can most definitely compete with others in terms of talent, entrepreneurship, innovation and quality of life.
We are proud of the fact that Amazon is already expanding in San Diego and will employ up to 500 developers and engineers in its UTC office. And we are proud of the partnership and collaborative spirit of the more than 20 organizations and municipalities that contributed to our regional proposal. We know that other positive things will come from this process and we continue to view 2018 with great excitement, optimism and focus.”
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