By Rachel E. Stassen-Berger

Pioneer Press

When retail behemoth Amazon announced plans to expand into a second North American headquarters Thursday morning, states across the country took quick note and began lining up for the chance.

Minnesota was among those excitedly jumping into the queue for the $5 billion project.

“With as many as 50,000 new jobs possible for Minnesota workers and families, I have directed Commissioner Shawntera Hardy and the Department of Employment and Economic Development to work with city, regional, and state partners on a proposal to bring Amazon’s new headquarters to Minnesota,” Gov. Mark Dayton said in a statement Thursday.

Amazon, perfectly comfortable with self-promotion, made the possibility awfully enticing. The project, for which it is soliciting bids through Oct. 19, would be as complete a headquarters as its Seattle base, which it claims brought 53,000 jobs to the city as well as a nearly $26 billion payroll.

Minnesota checks many of the boxes Amazon says it is looking for. It has clearly has “metropolitan areas with more than one million people” and  “urban or suburban locations with the potential to attract and retain strong technical talent,” as proven by the state’s 17 Fortune 500 companies already making Minnesota home. It is debatable — and people do debate — whether Minnesota has Amazon’s other two must-haves: “a stable and business-friendly environment” and “communities that think big and creatively when considering locations and real estate options.”
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