Amazon eliminates Orlando as contender for 2nd headquarters

NEW YORK — Amazon on Thursday morning announced that it narrowed the list of cities in contention for its second North American headquarters from 238 to 20.

Orlando wasn't among the finalists, which includes New York City, Chicago, Pittsburgh, Austin, Atlanta and Miami. Click here to read a full list of remaining contenders.

"I think the whole region is disappointed. I think we all believe we have something to offer, particularly for a fast-growing company like Amazon," president and CEO of Orlando Economic Partnership Tim Giuliani.

"Getting from 238 to 20 was very tough," the company said in a news release. "All the proposals showed tremendous enthusiasm and creativity."

The company said it plans to spend more than $5 billion on construction and to hire up to 50,000 workers.

Amazon, which is headquartered in Seattle, will spend the next several months evaluating the remaining proposals. The company says it will make its final decision later this year.

Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer said in a statement, "We are a creative city that thinks big and are committed to continuing to pursue headquarter operations and nurture our homegrown technology and innovation companies.

"While we are obviously disappointed our region wasn’t selected for the next round for the H2Q project by Amazon, we are proud of the proposal our community presented and the assets our region offers.

"We are confident that because of our region’s culture of collaboration, our strong business environment and our investments in quality of life amenities, there are great economic opportunities on the horizon."

Cox Media Group