Editorial: The Amazon gold rush

Published 10:03 pm Tuesday, September 19, 2017

In his mind, could Jeff Bezos be going to Carolina?

Better yet, could the Amazon founder and CEO be thinking of locating his second headquarters in Rowan County?

It’s an audacious dream on the part of Rowan County, but it’s worth pursuing. As part of the Charlotte metro region, Rowan sits on the rim of one a fastest-growing regions in the country, rich in people, land and major transportation routes.

The 16-county region is known as Charlotte USA, and even if the Amazon project landed in some other county in the region, Rowan would surely still benefit. The Amazon jobs will have an average pay of $100,000; people from Rowan have commuted great distances for less.

The Chicago Tribune reports that at least 101 cities, states, provinces and counties in the U.S. and Canada have indicated an interest in the megaproject. An official from Toronto has called Amazon’s search for the second headquarters “the Olympics of the corporate world,” NPR reports.

The fierce competition is understandable. What’s at stake is Amazon’s HQ2, as Bezos has dubbed his second headquarters, an office compound that would represent a $5 billion investment and could eventually employ 50,000 people. He expects it to be on par with the company’s Seattle headquarters.

Incentives are critical to the process, and the Amazon headquarters is said to be just the kind of project North Carolina lawmakers had in mind when they set up new financial incentives this year. The state budget includes enhanced incentives for “transformative projects” with an investment of at least $4 billion that create at least 5,000 jobs. Amazon certainly meets those criteria.

Rowan County has a lot to offer industry, especially a company like Amazon that would draw the skilled workers it needs. Proposals are due next month, and Amazon will probably announce its decision in 2018. The gold rush is on, and virtually every metro area in the country is prospecting. Rowan County has every reason to join in.