In this April 27, 2017 file photo, construction continues on three large, glass-covered domes as part of an expansion of the Amazon.com campus in downtown Seattle. Amazon said Thursday, Sept. 7, that it will spend more than $5 billion to build another headquarters in North America to house as many as 50,000 employees. It plans to stay in its sprawling Seattle headquarters and the new space will be "a full equal" of its current home, said founder and CEO Jeff Bezos. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)

Austin and Dallas are among 20 North American cities being considered for a second headquarters for Amazon, the online retailing giant announced Thursday morning.  

The cities were among several in Texas that had been competing to lure the company. Competition among cities has been fierce, since Amazon says it plans to invest $5 billion on its new headquarters and create “as many as 50,000 high-paying jobs” in the city it picks.  

Houston, El Paso and tiny Milam County submitted bids to host the second headquarters, but were left off the short list. Frisco also submitted a bid. It’s not immediately clear whether it still has a shot, since Amazon said it’s considering metropolitan areas and Frisco is suburb of Dallas.  

Cities across North America have offered major economic incentives to lure Amazon, including tax breaks and land. None of the Texas cities have made their bids public.  

“Getting from 238 to 20 was very tough – all the proposals showed tremendous enthusiasm and creativity,” said Holly Sullivan, Amazon’s head of worldwide economic development. “Through this process we learned about many new communities across North America that we will consider as locations for future infrastructure investment and job creation.” 

Amazon said it expects to make a final decision on a site this year.  

Here’s the list of all 20 cities: 

• Atlanta
• Austin
• Boston
• Chicago
• Columbus, Ohio
• Dallas
• Denver
• Indianapolis
• Los Angeles
• Miami
• Montgomery County, Maryland
• Nashville, Tennessee 
• Newark, New Jersey
• New York City
• Northern Virginia
• Philadelphia
• Pittsburgh
• Raleigh, North Carolina
• Toronto
• Washington D.C.

This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at https://www.texastribune.org/2018/01/18/two-texas-cities-austin-and-dallas-amazon-hq2-short-list/.

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