Could Amazon Be Bringing 50,000 Jobs to Illinois?
Amazon is hunting for a prime spot to build. Nothing Amazon does is small and this build would be huge.
The company announced that it's looking outside its home base of Seattle for a second headquarters that would employ up to 50,000 people. Chicago is on the list. They are willing to spend up to $5 billion to build the new base, calling it HQ2. This is big news.
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel is all over it. He has been speaking repeatedly with Jeff Bezos, CEO, about the possibility. Amazon is already familiar with Chicago as it has warehouses and offices downtown so it would be a perfect fit.
If Chicago were to acquire the new project, it would boost the city's economy by billions. This could also be good news to us Rockfordian's as it would stimulate the state's ecomomy, which we all know we could use. However, it's likely there will be an expensive bidding war over the new headquarters, which the state would have to help with. Dallas, Philidelphia, and Atlanta are also top contenders. Everyone say some prayers that our state gets this one right and lands this huge project. It could be just the opportunity we need to get out of some of the state's financial holes. To read more, see chicagobusiness.com.