Here’s how Manatee-Sarasota stacks up in race for Amazon’s HQ2

Wondering how the Manatee-Sarasota region’s three proposals to try to land Amazon’s second headquarters stack up against the competition?

Now we have a better idea.

The online giant on Monday announced that it had received 238 proposals from cities and regions in the United States, Canada and Mexico, though it didn’t announce which cities or metro areas applied.

What we do know is this: The two-county region submitted three proposals before last Thursday’s deadline, including two based in Lakewood Ranch.

One of the proposed sites is the 305-acre biotech business campus dubbed CORE at Lakewood Ranch. CORE stands for “Collaboration Opportunities for Research and Exploration.”

Another proposal bases the project at the Lakewood Ranch Corporate Park.

The third site submitted covers 900 acres along Moccasin Wallow Road near Interstate 75 on a property owned by homebuilder and developer Carlos Beruff.

The CORE at Lakewood Ranch and Moccason Wallow Road proposals were submitted by the Bradenton Area Economic Development Corp.; the Lakewood Ranch Corporate Park bid came via the Economic Development Corp. of Sarasota.

“If Amazon HQ2 were to be located anywhere in the Tampa Bay region, it is a win for all of us,” Bradenton Area EDC president and CEO Sharon Hillstrom told the Bradenton Herald last week.

Amazon announced in early September that it is seeking a second North American headquarters, creating a scramble among cities and regions for the new facility. Company founder Jeff Bezos issued a statement saying he expects the new location “to be a full equal to our Seattle headquarters. Amazon HQ2 will bring billions of dollars in upfront and ongoing investments, and tens of thousands of high-paying jobs. We’re excited to find a second home.”

Amazon accepted the bids from Oct. 16-19, and said Monday it was “excited to review each of them.”

Amazon said that proposals came from 43 states, as well as Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico, three Mexican states and six Canadian provinces. The seven states that did not apply were Arkansas, Hawaii, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Vermont and Wyoming.

Other Florida regions that placed bids for the second Amazon headquarters were Tampa-St. Petersburg, South Florida, Orlando and Jacksonville.

The proposed HQ2 would be home to as many as 50,000 employees over a 20-year period, with Amazon planning to invest $5 billion in construction to create a “full equal” to its current Seattle campus.

Working against the Bradenton-Sarasota region? The availability of mass transportation, one of Amazon’s top stipulations for HQ2.

Besides looking for financial incentives – the company made clear that tax breaks and grants would influence their decision – Amazon had stipulated that it was seeking to be near a metropolitan area with more than a million people; be able to attract top technical talent; be within 45 minutes of an international airport; have direct access to mass transit; and be able to expand that headquarters to as much as 8 million square feet in the next decade.

Now that the submission period has closed, suitors can only sit back and wait as the company reviews the proposals.

An announcement is expected in 2018.

This story was originally published October 23, 2017 at 1:47 PM with the headline "Here’s how Manatee-Sarasota stacks up in race for Amazon’s HQ2."