Harrisburg and surrounding counties will try to convince Amazon.com to locate its new headquarters on the grounds of the former State Hospital.
Do you have an opinion on Harrisburg’s plan to bid for the Amazon HQ2 project?
If so, county officials and business leaders want to hear it.
The Harrisburg Regional Chamber & CREDC and the Dauphin County Redevelopment Authority are accepting ideas and suggestions from the community as they prepare a proposal for Amazon.com. The online retail company announced last month that it would accept public bids for its second corporate headquarters, which would bring more than 50,000 jobs to a metropolitan area in North America.
Community members can send their input by email to HQ2@hbgrc.org. The proposal team asks that all senders sign their messages and include contact information beyond an email address.
Harrisburg officials confirmed last week that are working with Dauphin, York, Lancaster, Cumberland and Lebanon counties to submit a joint, regional bid for the project. The application will pitch the former Harrisburg State Hospital grounds off of Cameron Street as the future site of the Amazon campus.
South-central Pennsylvania is already home to a number of Amazon warehouses and distribution centers. The HQ2 project, however, would bring a corporate office similar to the 8.1-million-square-foot headquarters Amazon maintains in Seattle. Amazon says it will invest $5 billion in construction on the new headquarters and claims that the project will lead to tens of billions of dollars of investments in the surrounding community.
“This type of project is a game changer for any region with huge employment opportunities for executives, managers, software engineers, attorneys, accountants and technical/administrative jobs,” said a statement by the Harrisburg Regional Chamber and CREDC, which will lead the application effort.
Applications for the HQ2 project are due to Amazon by Thursday, Oct. 19.
