Vancouver ranked dead last in list of 64 possible cities for Amazon HQ2

Artistic rendering of the new biodomes at Amazon's new downtown Seattle campus. (NBBJ)

Vancouver doesn’t stand much of a chance in becoming the home of the much-coveted golden goose that is Amazon’s second global headquarters.

According to a new ranking by Sperling’s Best Places, Canada’s third largest city is dead last in the race based on its compilation of 18 of the most reputable studies with lists and rankings of potential locations for HQ2.

In fact, none of the Canadian cities made it to the top 10. Unsurprisingly, Canada’s best chance lies with Toronto at 12th place, just ahead of Pittsburgh and ahead of San Jose.

This is followed by Calgary at 55th (tied with Suburban Maryland), Montreal at 56th, and Ottawa at 61st.

Atlanta is the ranking’s clear winner, followed by Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia, Washington DC, Austin, Dallas, Denver, and New York City.

“As several pundits have pointed out, finding a metropolitan area that meets all Amazon’s criteria is not only difficult, but impossible,” said Bert Sperling with Sperling’s Best Places.

“And the HQ2 project is such a massive scale, that it can transform an area, adding missing infrastructure to meet its needs. In this unique case, conventional thinking may be a disadvantage. I expect to be surprised.”

The score the cities received in the ranking is based on the rank of each city in a study. As a result, the cities with the most points are the worst places for HQ2 while the cities with the least points are best.

Amazon’s Request for Proposals issued two months ago identified determining factors such as a minimum regional population of one million, a major international airport within close proximity, a stable business climate, a strong public transit system, a highly-educated labour pool, diverse population, a low cost of living, and a high quality of life.

Metro Vancouver’s high cost of living, lack of space, and close proximity to the Seattle headquarters is said to be some of the region’s largest hurdles with attracting Amazon’s potential $5-billion investment to build a new second global headquarters with eight million sq. ft. of office space for 50,000 employees.

A total of 238 cities and regions in North America, including many small communities such as Langford on Vancouver Island, submitted a bid for HQ2 before last month’s deadline. Amazon is expected to make a decision on its second home city sometime in 2018.

Earlier this month, Amazon announced it will occupy a new nine-storey, 150,000 sq. ft. office building at the southwest corner of Dunsmuir and Homer streets. The company’s second corporate office in downtown Vancouver will employ 1,000 people when it opens in 2020.

Sperling’s Best Places Super Study for Amazon HQ2

1	Atlanta	13.6
2	Boston	17.2
3	Chicago	21.7
4	Philadelphia	25.8
5	Washington DC	26.5
6	Austin	26.6
7	Dallas	27.7
8	Denver	28.3
9	New York	29.3
10	Raleigh	31.6
11	Pittsburgh	32.2
12	Toronto, Ontario	34.5
13	San Jose	34.8
14	Salt Lake City	35.7
15	San Francisco	35.9
16	Minneapolis	36.4
17	Portland	36.8
18	Nashville	37.3
19	Miami	37.4
20	Los Angeles	37.7
21	Baltimore	38.7
22	Detroit	39.6
23	Houston	39.9
24	Charlotte	40
25	Phoenix	40.9
26	San Diego	41.5
28	Rochester	42.6
28	Seattle	42.6
29	Cincinnati	42.6
31	Richmond	42.9
31	Las Vegas	42.9
32	New Orleans	43
33	Orlando	43.2
34	Indianapolis	43.3
35	Columbus	43.9
36	Jacksonville	44.2
37	St. Louis	44.4
38	Kansas City	44.7
39	San Antonio	45.6
40	Cleveland	46.8
41	Hartford	46.9
42	Memphis	47.1
43	Tampa	47.4
44	Suburban Virginia	47.6
45	Virginia Beach	47.6
46	Tucson	47.7
47	Birmingham	47.8
48	Omaha	47.8
49	Providence	48.1
50	Syracuse	48.2
51	Colorado Springs	48.2
52	New Haven	48.3
53	Westchester, NY	48.3
55	Calgary, Alberta	48.4
55	Suburban Maryland	48.4
56	Montreal, Quebec	48.6
57	Chattanooga	48.6
58	Anaheim	48.9
59	Sacramento	49.1
60	Grand Rapids	49.1
61	Ottawa, Ontario	49.2
62	Riverside	49.3
63	Newark	49.4
64	Vancouver, British Columbia	49.6

Sperling’s Best Places Super Study for Amazon HQ2

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