Amazon's search for a city to house the online retailer's second North American headquarters isn't over yet, but Chicago is still in the running. This morning, Amazon released a short list of 20 cities that are still under consideration, narrowed down from 238 proposals that were submitted to the company from cities in the U.S., Mexico and Canada.
Amazon's headquarters are located in Seattle, so the shortlist of locations for HQ2 predictably favors the eastern half of the U.S. (though Los Angeles, Denver, Dallas and Austin also made the cut). The company is expecting to invest more than $5 billion in its new headquarters and create as many as 50,000 new jobs.
Chicago's presence on the shortlist isn't exactly surprising, considering the lengths the city and Mayor Rahm Emanuel has gone to in an attempt to woo Amazon. Last year, the city revealed a list of 10 sites that could potentially house Amazon HQ2, including Sterling Bay's expansive Lincoln Yards development and the redeveloped Old Main Post Office. According to the Chicago Tribune, the city is also willing to offer Amazon more than $2 billion in tax breaks if it decides to set up shop in Chicago.
There's more than one tech giant eyeing Chicago—last week, the city was revealed as a candidate for a major Google operations center, which could house anywhere from 1,000 to 5,000 new employees. Yesterday, Mayor Emanuel stated his intention to put Chicago in the running for Apple's new U.S. campus, which will initially house the company's technical support team.
Amazon plans to announce the location of its second headquarters later this year. You can take a look at a map of all 20 finalists for HQ2 below.
Illustration: Courtesy Amazon