The City of Langford has lost its bid to host Amazon’s second headquarters. But Mayor Stew Young said the pitch the city prepared provides groundwork for attracting businesses and post-secondary schools to the growing municipality.
“We knew it was a bit of a long shot, but we wanted to do the exercise and just wanted people to know we’re open for business,” Young said.
Toronto is the only Canadian contender remaining on a 20-city shortlist released Thursday by Amazon. Others in the running include Chicago, Denver, Austin, Texas and New York City.
Metro Vancouver, Calgary and Ottawa-Gatineau were among those culled alongside Langford from the 238-strong pool of applicants. The B.C. government had kicked in $50,000 toward a joint bid by Vancouver and Surrey.
Langford’s economic development committee put together its bid, including information about the city’s demographics, schools and amenities, as well as the tax breaks the city could offer, Young said. “We put a good pitch forward. And what we did was took everything we did for Amazon and have formulated an actual package we give to people now that’s more generic,” he said.
They are also looking at adding promotional elements used by bidders in other cities, to bolster the package, he said. The pitch can be used for corporations and 10-person tech companies alike, he said.
Young said the city is already trying to attract Royal Roads and Camosun College to set up additional campuses or classroom space in Langford.
Part of the motivation comes from the fact that tech companies like to set up shop in university towns, where they can recruit talent, Young said. “We want the tech companies, so that means we have to have post-secondary. This is a bigger-picture, broader thing.”
He said the city is looking 10 years in the future, when its young population of school-aged kids start looking for post-secondary education.
Camosun already uses Belmont Secondary for classroom space, he said. “We’ll help them, we’ll give them tax-free status. Generally, it’s a good public service, it’s good for our community and it’s great to have kids working and staying in our community. It makes us more vibrant.”
Amazon has said it plans to invest $5 billion in construction and grow its secondary headquarters to include as many as 50,000 high-paying jobs — a full equal to its current campus in Seattle.
