Detroit's bid for Amazon's second $5 billion headquarters is on the way, Whitney Eichinger, the vice president of communications for Rock Ventures told 7 Action News.
- Metro Detroit's bid for $5 billion Amazon 'HQ2' due Thursday
- Dan Gilbert leading Super Bowl-like bid for Amazon headquarters in Detroit
- Dan Gilbert, Gov. Snyder make case to bring Amazon HQ2 to Detroit
Dan Gilbert, the founder of Rock Ventures, has been leading a Super Bowl-like bid committee for what Amazon has dubbed "HQ2."
In September, the giant announced they were looking for a second headquarters that would be a full equal to their Seattle headquarters.
Gilbert, Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan and Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder immediately jumped on the opportunity.
As part of the bid, Rock Ventures has created a website, detroitmovestheworld.com, and video to show the city's vision for the future.
"We are redefining the future of mobility, innovation, business and culture," Eichinger said. "With unparalled infrastructure, unlimited access to resource sand innovative talent, Detroit's momentum is undeniable."
Part of the Detroit Moves The World campaign includes the slogan, "Move here. Move the world. Detroit was made for this."
The campaign works to showcase Detroit's ability to grow, how they're changing the world now and the wealth of knowledge and skill coming out of the city. The website shows the vision, why the city is perfect for Amazon HQ2 and a chance to get a closer look at the city.
When Duggan heard about Amazon's RFP, it immediately reminded him of Gilbert.
"You've got a billionaire, who has a company with thousands of employees. He wants to put in a place where he creates lots of buildings in a downtown area and move the employees in," Duggan said. "I thought, who do I know that's done something like that?"
Detroit is expected to have some tough competition from other cities like Chicago, Atlanta, Boston and more. It's not clear how many cities are submitting proposals.
"We're up against some really tough competition and really great cities, but if we all pull together, we're going to take a shot," Duggan said.
Snyder has previously said the pitch needs to involve the entire metro Detroit area to bring HQ2 to Detroit.
"The governor had a whole series of suggestions on how we need to get the whole region involved because 50,000 jobs won't be in one city," Duggan said. "You're going to need multiple communities."
"While there are may encouraging business reasons for Amazon to set up shop in Michigan, I firmly believe that our most impressive asset is the incredible, hard-working Michiganders who make our state the best in the nation," Snyder said a statement.
Amazon was looking for the headquarters in a suburban or urban area with more than 1 million people and a community that "thinks big."
Right now, their headquarters in Seattle features 33 buildings and 24 restaurants or cafes spread across 8.1 million square feet.
The company is expected to announce the city for HQ2 sometime in 2018.
