ATLANTA — Atlanta offered the biggest financial incentive in its history to try to lure Amazon to build HQ2 here. But, with only a few months left in the year, there's still no real indicator as to which of the top 20 cities will be awarded the global company's second site.
One city that appears to be a favorite is Chicago – the windy city recently became the first to have a cashier-less Amazon Go store outside of Seattle. Amazon also made a second site visit to that city, same with Miami. Atlanta, though? So far, we’ve only got one visit.
But there's a new narrative that has emerged in recent weeks: social impact. How will Amazon help move a city forward?
11Alive’s Ryan Kruger spoke with national site selection expert John Boyd, Jr., who said the social impact argument could help Atlanta, and hurt a place like the Washington, D.C. area.
"Of all the 20 finalists, Atlanta has the fourth-highest poverty rate, and the largest number of African-Americans,” Boyd said. “That's something they can leverage into their pitch, I believe."
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Boyd expects Amazon to wait until after the November elections to announce their decision. But even in a battleground state like Georgia, Boyd believes there are concerns with both candidates for governor.
“If Stacey Abrams were to win the election, there would be concerns that our clients and other site selectors would have about potential new tax increases, new regulations,” Body said. “If Brian Kemp wins the election, there would be some concerns about some anti-business social regulations, like a religious freedom bill that Nathan Deal was wise to avoid."
And don't forget, the funding for Amazon is in question. The city council has pushed back a possible vote on funding the Gulch, which is a potential Amazon site, for at least a couple weeks.
Boyd believes Amazon is watching all of these actions closely. So, if we're waiting until after election day, that means the final seven weeks of the 2018 could decide the future of our city forever.
Photos of the Gulch
EXPLORE | Sites for possible Amazon HQ