City Mum On Amazon's HQ2 Scouting Visit Details
An Amazon search committee will arrive in Chicago this week to tour some of the locations submitted by the city as potential sites for a second headquarters. But the city is treating it like a top-secret mission and has not divulged any details of Amazon's itinerary.
What is known is Mayor Rahm Emanuel and civic leaders will shadow the search committee every step of the way, Crain's Chicago Business reports. The committee is expected to visit several of the 10 sites submitted, including Sterling Bay's Lincoln Yards, Related Midwest's The 78, Riverside Investment & Development's The River District, the Michael Reese Hospital site in Bronzeville, the Old Main Post Office and Union Station.
Former Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker, one of five co-chairs of an Amazon recruitment committee formed by Emanuel and Gov. Bruce Rauner last fall, is expected to be one of the business leaders leading the tours.
Chicago was one of 20 finalists for Amazon HQ2. Amazon will announce the winner later this year and begin construction of its second headquarters in 2019. Amazon previously scouted sites in New York and Washington, D.C. The nation's capital is widely believed to have the inside track on landing Amazon HQ2. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos is building a second home in Montgomery County, Maryland, and he owns the Washington Post.
