HARTFORD, CT — (Updated 12 p.m.) Connecticut won’t be home to Amazon’s second headquarters, according to information posted on the company’s website.
Amazon narrowed its selection for its second headquarter from 238 communities down to 20 Thursday.
New York City, Boston, Newark, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Washington D.C., Raleigh, Northern Virginia, Montgomery County, Atlanta, and Miami made the cut of east coast communities. Toronto also made the first cut, along with Columbus, Indianapolis, Chicago, Denver, Nashville, Los Angeles, Dallas, and Austin.
In a tweet the company said “Getting from 238 to 20 was very tough – all the proposals showed tremendous enthusiasm and creativity.”
Connecticut submitted two bids to Amazon in hopes of landing the company’s coveted second headquarter location. One bid was from Stamford and one was from the Greater Hartford area. Both plans were posted on a new website the state created for the bids: ctisprime.com
In a statement, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy said he’s disappointed, but it boiled down to the fact that Connecticut didn’t have a big enough metropolitan area for the proposal.
“Connecticut remains a tremendous place to do business, as demonstrated by CVS/Aetna’s recent commitment to Hartford and by the countless companies both large and small who are proud to call Connecticut home,” Malloy said. “We will continue to highlight our tremendous strengths, while recognizing the need to focus on investing in our cities to maintain the progress we have made in making Connecticut a more attractive place to live and work.”
Department of Economic and Community Development Commissioner Catherine Smith said she’s also disappointed, but knew from the beginning it was an “uphill climb and that scale could be an issue, so it is not surprising that Amazon opted for much larger communities.”
She added: “When I spoke to Holly Sullivan from Amazon, she indicated our proposal was very strong, however the data-driven selection process that was used favored larger metropolitan areas. Overall, this exercise has proven to be beneficial as we continue to promote the many assets of Connecticut and compete for businesses across the globe.”