Milwaukee Region Vies For Amazon Headquarters

In their wish list for a second hometown, executives from online retail giant Amazon say they are looking for a metro area of more than 1 million people with a stable, business-friendly environment. Any proposed location should also have easy access to an international airport and major highways.

Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett is confident his city can compete with tech hubs like Boston and Denver in a nationwide scramble to land the company’s second headquarters.

“When I looked at the request for proposal I thought I could have written this for Milwaukee and southeastern Wisconsin,” said Barrett. “That’s how strongly we feel we meet all of the requirements that they have laid out there.”

Barrett and Waukesha County Executive Paul Farrow, who co-chair the regional economic development group M7, announced Wednesday that they were submitting an application to Amazon a day ahead of the company’s Thursday deadline for cities interested in attracting the new campus. They said the proposal includes several site options in Milwaukee and the surrounding suburbs.

Barrett said the region’s low cost of living gives it an advantage over coastal competitors. He called Milwaukee’s proximity to Chicago, another city vying for the headquarters, an asset. He said Milwaukee would give Amazon access to the larger city’s workers without the burden of its fiscal problems.

Regional workforces are an important part of the equation, since Amazon plans to create as many as 50,000 jobs at its new location. Many of those jobs will require a high level of technological skill. Milwaukee already faces a shortage of such workers.

But Waukesha County Executive Farrow said no metro area in the country has 50,000 workers waiting around for jobs. He said the proposal to Amazon is chance to display the region’s opportunity for growth.

“When I talk to the universities in the area and the technical colleges, there is a new sense of understanding of how to work together to create a platform that gives people the skill sets that they need so they can be in the workforce sooner than later,” he said.

Farrow pointed to the recent decision by global tech manufacturer Foxconn to build a new factory in Racine County as proof that southeast Wisconsin can offer the kind of business-friendly environment Amazon is looking for.