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Denver residents see little benefit to landing Amazon’s second North American headquarters, or HQ2, according to an online poll conducted by the Business Journals.
Just 16% of respondents said they think the region needs the jobs HQ2 would bring. Denver had among the lowest percentage of respondents saying landing HQ2 would be beneficial to local small businesses or that the city should offer incentives to Amazon to get HQ2.
The Business Journals partnered with Elon University in North Carolina to conduct the survey in all 19 of the U.S. regions that, along with the Canadian city of Toronto, remain in the running for Amazon’s HQ2. The survey was conducted from March 30 through April 3 and was designed to gauge each city’s enthusiasm — and willingness to make sacrifices — to land Amazon’s $5B proposal to develop a new campus for up to 50,000 employees.
Denver residents were the least likely to accept more than five minutes of time added to their daily commutes due to increased traffic. And if the region does land HQ2, the majority of respondents said they would prefer it be in the suburbs. Most also believe that average housing prices and rents would increase, as would the cost of living.
Residents in Atlanta, Pittsburgh and Indianapolis seem to be willing to do whatever it takes to win HQ2, while folks in Austin and Boston are more closely aligned with Denver.
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