Amazon’s new headquarters short list is out. The finalists include the Carolinas

Amazon has named “Raleigh” as one of 20 finalists for the company’s second North American headquarters.

Amazon reviewed 238 proposals from across the United States, Canada and Mexico to host a second headquarters, after its home in Seattle. Thursday, it announced the metropolitan areas that made the cut.

All of the finalists were in the United States except for Toronto. The Triangle is the only North Carolina finalist; others from the Southeast include Atlanta, Nashville and Northern Virginia. Charlotte, the Triad and Hickory all made pitches to Amazon, along with the Triangle.

Research Triangle Regional Partnership, an association of economic development agencies, submitted seven sites for Amazon to consider. The group wouldn’t say where the sites are in the region. Thursday’s announcement didn’t indicate if the company was looking specifically at a site in Raleigh or if that was part of the larger Triangle proposal.

Amazon says it expects to eventually create 50,000 jobs and invest more than $5 billion in its second headquarters, which it says will be a full equal to its current base in Seattle.

The company created a frenzy when it announced the second headquarters and invited cities and regions to make their pitches. The company evaluated the proposals using criteria outlined in the request for proposals, including an educated, high-tech workforce, a good quality of life, a strong local economy and a “stable and business-friendly environment.”

Amazon says it will work with the finalists to dive deeper into their proposals and request additional information. The company says it expects to make a decision later this year.

The 20 finalists are: Atlanta, Austin, Boston, Chicago, Columbus, Ohio, Dallas, Denver, Indianapolis, Los Angeles, Miami, Montgomery County, Maryland, Nashville, Newark, New York City, Northern Virginia, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Raleigh, Toronto, and Washington, D.C.

“Thank you to all 238 communities that submitted proposals. Getting from 238 to 20 was very tough — all the proposals showed tremendous enthusiasm and creativity,” Holly Sullivan of Amazon’s public policy division, said in a news release Thursday. “Through this process we learned about many new communities across North America that we will consider as locations for future infrastructure investment and job creation.”

The Economic Development Partnership of N.C., a public-private entity, and the state Department of Commerce hired an advertising agency to market the state to Amazon. It is part of a broader promotional campaign that the state is spending about $92,000 on for transit ads on city buses in Seattle, digital ads, social media, public relations and T-shirts.

This story was originally published January 18, 2018 at 10:24 AM with the headline "Amazon’s new headquarters short list is out. The finalists include the Carolinas."