Baker supporting statewide Amazon bid rather than individual city
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Gov. Charlie Baker said his administration will support a statewide bid in hopes of landing Amazon.
Gov. Charlie Baker is staying true to his word and is supporting a statewide approach to landing online retail giant Amazon.
The company is soliciting bids from cities and states for its proposed HQ2, which the company hopes will transform into an 8-million-square-foot campus worth $5 billion with 50,000 employees.
Several communities, including Worcester and Boston, are submitting bids, but Baker told reporters Monday his administration would continue to support a statewide bid that will include proposals from interested cities.
“The best thing we can do with respect to Amazon is to give them what I would describe as a menu of options,” he said.
The state has much to offer in the way to technology, biotech, healthcare, robotics and others areas in which Amazon would be interested, Baker said.
“There’s a lot of places that they could go in Massachusetts that I think would make sense for them,” he said. “Picking one site would be a huge mistake.”
Worcester officials and City Manager Edward Augustus have said in addition to submitting a Worcester-specific bid to highlight the city’s growing economy and universities, it will sign on as part of the larger statewide application.
Though he didn’t mention Worcester, Baker said the state’s application will suggest to Amazon ways in which to utilize various city proposals to meet the company’s overall needs.
“You miss that opportunity if you submit just one,” he said.
Newton Mayor Setti Warren, a Democratic candidate for governor in 2018 and Baker challenger, has suggested Amazon should open its second headquarters in Worcester and the state should build a rail system connecting Western Massachusetts to Worcester and Boston.
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