Northern Virginia in running for Amazon’s second North American headquarters

Governor Ralph Northam today, Jan. 18, announced that Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) has selected Northern Virginia as a candidate for its second North American headquarters. In September, the e-commerce giant released a public request for proposal seeking a location capable of supporting up to 50,000 employees and a facility that will be around 8 million square feet at full capacity. The company received 238 proposals, and has named a total of 20 candidate locations for consideration for the project.

Virginia submitted three comprehensive regional proposals for the $5 billion project for Greater Richmond, Hampton Roads, and Northern Virginia. The Commonwealth also supported proposals from several other Virginia localities.

The Northern Virginia proposal included four sites for consideration in Alexandria, Arlington County, Fairfax County, and Loudoun County. Northern Virginia is a region positioned at the cutting edge of innovation and technology, comprised of bustling mixed-use developments; 11 Fortune 500 companies; thousands of top technology firms; a top-five talent base; a hub of innovators, entrepreneurs and investors; diverse cultural amenities; and one of the friendliest business climates in the U.S.

“We couldn’t be prouder that Northern Virginia has been selected as one of 20 candidate locations for this historic project,”  Governor Northam was quoted as saying in a news release.

“The Commonwealth’s strong proposals for the Amazon HQ2 project represent an unprecedented level of local and regional collaboration, as well as strong support from Governor McAuliffe’s Administration and leaders in the Virginia General Assembly. Virginia’s outstanding business climate and world-class workforce make our Commonwealth the right place for Amazon to place this key base of operations. We look forward to a continuing partnership with our Northern Virginia communities to show Amazon and job creators all over the world that the Commonwealth is the best place to locate and grow.”