‘We all win,’ developer says if either Manatee County site lands Amazon headquarters

Developer Carlos Beruff has taken a “belt-and-suspenders” approach to bidding for Amazon’s second North American headquarters.

In hopes of increasing his chances, Beruff submitted his proposal three times: directly to Amazon, through the Bradenton Area Economic Development Corp. and to Enterprise Florida.

His decision to pursue Amazon HQ2, an economic plum sought by big cities across the United States, was reached quickly, Beruff told the Bradenton Herald.

A friend pitched the idea three days before Hurricane Irma hit Manatee County in September.

“He sent me the request for proposal. I literally keyed in all the boxes and we met all the criteria,” Beruff said.

What about mass transportation? Sharon Hillstrom, president and CEO of the Bradenton Area Economic Development Corp., said Tuesday it was the one component that didn’t meet Amazon’s criteria.

That might be the case now, but Beruff said he has talked to Manatee County Area Transit and believes that anything Amazon might need could be provided.

“We have a tremendously talented land-planning group,” Beruff said. “Let’s go for it. We have to think in the future.”

Amazon proposes to duplicate its headquarters in Seattle with its second North American headquarters. Amazon is proposing to hire 50,000 new employees with the average compensation exceeding $100,000. The deadline to submit bids is Thursday, and Amazon expects to make an announcement on HQ2’s location in 2018.

Amazon expects to invest more than $5 billion in construction for HQ2. At its Seattle headquarters, it has 33 buildings and 8.1 million square feet of office space.

Beruff has 900 acres on the east side of Interstate 75 and the north side of Buckeye Road in Parrish that he says would be perfect for HQ2.

“It’s a big triangle,” Beruff said of his proposed Amazon site.

The proposed HQ2 campus would be a “drop in the bucket” on his 900 acres, Beruff said.

The information provided to Amazon about incentives was an overview of various programs and scenarios that could be offered by Manatee County and the state.

“If Manatee County were to be short-listed, then a more in-depth and specific package would be proposed,” Hillstrom said in an email Wednesday afternoon.

Also vying to be home to HQ2 is Lakewood Ranch’s 305-acre biotech business campus dubbed CORE, located just north of State Road 70 along Lakewood Ranch Boulevard. CORE stands for “Collaboration Opportunities for Research and Exploration.”

Beruff declined to forecast Manatee County’s odds of landing HQ2.

“If it comes to either site in Manatee County, we all win. Look at it this way, we have a better chance of landing HQ2 than winning the lottery,” he said.

A day after announcing the EOC’s bid for Amazon, Hillstrom said people have commented that there was an extremely short time frame to create a top-notch, first-rate response.

“Most colleagues, like us, worked very long hours to compile all the information, to create a proposal to best position our communities for winning the project,” Hillstrom said. “Everyone agrees that pursuing a project of this magnitude was an excellent exercise for their respective teams to pursue.

“Landing Amazon HQ2 is a game changer for a community, especially those communities that pursue aggressive economic development focused on diversifying their local economy by attracting and retaining high-skill, high-wage jobs.”

If Manatee County was selected, HQ2 would be near Amazon’s 1 million-square-foot distribution center in Ruskin in southern Hillsborough County.

This story was originally published October 18, 2017 at 5:10 PM with the headline "‘We all win,’ developer says if either Manatee County site lands Amazon headquarters."