Dallas, Austin are among 20 Amazon HQ2 finalists. So is Fort Worth still in the mix?
Dallas and Austin are among the 20 cities Amazon named as finalists for the location of its second headquarters, the company announced Thursday.
Houston, which was also a candidate, did not make the list of finalists.
Chicago, Pittsburgh, Atlanta and Miami are also still in the running.
The Dallas Regional Chamber of Commerce submitted the DFW region's bid to Amazon when the search for a site began in September.
Robert Sturns, Fort Worth economic development director, said city officials aren't sure whether Fort Worth is still a contender, though.
"We submitted a regional response [to Amazon] and Dallas and Fort Worth and other cities were included," Sturns said. "We hope to find out, are they talking about Dallas proper, or the Dallas-Fort Worth region? So there is more to come, but we are excited to know they are interested in the region."
Brandom Gengelbach, executive vice president of economic development for the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce, said it's his understanding that Fort Worth is still in the running for Amazon's second headquarters, as part of the North Texas regional bid. About two dozen potential locations were submitted to Amazon in the bid, including the planned Panther Island development near downtown.
The city that is named the home for Amazon's HQ2 will benefit to the tune of up to 50,000 jobs and $5 billion in investment.
Although Dallas was listed by Amazon as a finalist, the precise location of a potential corporate site within the North Texas region isn’t known yet.
On Thursday morning, the list of Amazon finalist cities was a subject of great interest at the Real Estate Council of Greater Fort Worth, which conducted its annual forecast meeting at Casa Manana.
One of the speakers was John Martin, a Virginia-based futurist and CEO of a market research company known as SIR. Martin strongly urged those in the Fort Worth real estate industry to push hard for better transit in Fort Worth, including more funding for rail, rapid bus service and streetcars. He said even though autonomous vehicles soon will be in wide use worldwide, cities will still evolve around transit corridors, and companies such as Amazon are looking for places where their workers can walk and cycle to work, and for pleasure.
"If you look at Amazon’s big announcement this morning, this is about transit," Martin said. "Dallas and Austin made the list, along with 18 other cities. They meet the (transit) criteria."
Martin said his research shows that for 66 percent of millennials, access to a comprehensive transit system is one of their top three priorities in choosing a place to live.
But Gengelbach isn't so sure that Fort Worth's lack of a more comprehensive transit system will hurt Fort Worth's chances as much as some others say it will.
"To me it's not so much what we have now as what we can be in the future," Gengelbach said.
DFW's bid is bolstered by Texas' lack of a state income tax and the North Texas region's low cost of living.
The 20 finalists selected by Amazon are: Toronto; Columbus, Ohio; Indianapolis; Chicago; Denver; Nashville; Los Angeles; Dallas; Austin; Miami; Atlanta; Northern Virginia; Raleigh, N.C.; Washington D.C.; Montgomery County, Md.; Philadelphia; Pittsburgh; Newark, N.J.; New York City and Boston.
Amazon is currently based in Seattle. The company received 238 applications from cities to be named the site for HQ2. The winner is expected to be named later this year.
Matthew Martinez: 817-390-7667; @MCTinez817
This story was originally published January 18, 2018 at 9:05 AM with the headline "Dallas, Austin are among 20 Amazon HQ2 finalists. So is Fort Worth still in the mix?."