TUCSON (KGUN9-TV) - It's one of the biggest deals in business---cities around the country would love to win it---and now Tucson's joining the competition.
It's Amazon's second headquarters, good for thousands of jobs and billions of dollars and Tucson’s included a prickly present as part of the pitch.
Tucson business leaders like to compare our area to a saguaro cactus: tough, sharp, ready to grow and they're hoping to play up those qualities as they make their bid for one of the biggest scores in the world of business.
Amazon already has a huge warehouse in Arizona, but now it's looking for a second headquarters besides its headquarters in Seattle.
The company says it'll hire about fifty thousand people, and invest over five billion dollars.
Amazon will consider metro areas that have more than a million people.
It's Sun Corridor's mission to bring more business to Tucson. CEO Joe Snell is sending Amazon a 21-foot Saguaro as an attention getter. Snell says the Tucson area has a million people and assets that give it a real shot in the competition for Amazon.
"People. Skilled people. Upward trajectory with growth. In-migration. People are moving here; they like to live here. Great university. Proximity to a lot of markets from California to Phoenix that we can draw from on this."
Tucson can point to other companies that decided this area is right for them.
Just west of downtown, Caterpillar is building a new division headquarters.
Vector Space Systems decided Tucson was a good place to build the small to medium sized rockets it will use to launch small satellites.
Alex Rodriguez of Vector says several factors led Vector to choose Tucson: "One is the lower cost of doing business just overall. Two is the incredible talent and engineering and technical workforce readily available for Vector. Three is the fantastic support that we've received from Pima County, The City of Tucson, the Arizona Commerce Authority."
To snare Amazon, Tucson will have to send more than a cactus. Amazon wants all contenders to make their pitch in barely a week so the company can decide sometime next year.
