Concord bids to host Amazon’s second headquarters

Online mercantile megalith Amazon remains the belle of the ball this week, as North American cities scramble to make the case that they’re a prime locale for the Seattle-based company’s proposed secondary headquarters.

Oakland, San Jose, and San Francisco are in the running as obvious local candidates. But last week another Bay Area metro stepped up to the plate: Concord contends that it can acclimate Amazon better than its neighbors to the west and the south.

Concord Mayor Laura Hoffmeister made a bid to Amazon, advertising “plentiful office options, often priced at a quarter of what is offered in nearby San Francisco and half the prices in Oakland.”

Hoffmeister also presented a potential plum to Jeff Bezos and company: The old Concord Naval base, which the city hopes to redevelop into a “transit-oriented development with approximately 6 million square feet of office/R&D/commercial space, a 120-acre campus district and 12,000 housing units.”

The East Bay Times reports that Concord has put millions of dollars into loans for the base redesign. Lennar, the same developer presently working on San Francsico’s own disused Navy yard at Hunters Point, hopes to dig into this site as well.

Plans for the base are so big and sweeping that East Bay Times columnist Gary Peterson even referred to it as the difference between “new Concord and existing Concord.”

Seestock

A deal with Amazon would be quite a prize for those boosting the development of the new Concord. But the San Jose Mercury News notes that base revamp is not yet fully approved.

Meanwhile, Jeff Bezos has several names on his dance card right now, and more cities have until October to put themselves in the running. (Detroit, Austin, Boston, and Chicago are strong contenders.)

Amazon’s proposed HQ2 would be roughly the same size as its present base of operations and could bring require as many as 50,000 hires.

• Does SF Want Amazon HQ? [Curbed SF]
• Concord Throws Hat In Ring [Newswire]
• Concord Wants Amazon [Mercury]
• City Has Loaned Millions To Base Project [EBT]
• Vision For Concord [EBT]
• Should Amazon choose Detroit for its new headquarters? [Curbed Detroit]
• Open thread: Could Chicago actually land Amazon’s second HQ? [Curbed Chicago]
• Where could Amazon build its new headquarters in the Boston area? [Curbed Boston]
• Amazon’s new HQ: How cities are making their case [Curbed]