Officials in Bridgeport and New Haven say they’ll jointly vie for Amazon’s second headquarters in North America, despite the Malloy Administration's choosing the Stamford and Hartford areas as the state’s choice.
Rowena White, communications director for the City of Bridgeport, says the Bridgeport-New Haven area meets Amazon’s criteria.
“Amazon has a strong interest in not just STEM projects, but also innovation and looking at a professional talent pool. Fairfield and New Haven County certainly have that to offer, the talent we have in the marketplace is just unfounded. We have the University of Bridgeport, Fairfield University, UNH, Quinnipiac and of course, Yale.”
Rowena also thinks that by teaming up, Connecticut’s two largest cities have a shot at transforming the area.
“People having a better quality of life for themselves, for Bridgeport certainly, New Haven certainly, but the surrounding cities and towns along the Merritt Parkway corridor, that Route 8 corridor. And it would also be beneficial to the colleges and universities in the area.”
17 municipalities in Connecticut competed to be the state’s official choice for the new headquarters.
Amazon officials say they will invest $5 billion in the project and expect to employ about 50,000 people. The company is the world’s largest internet-based retailer.
If the new headquarters comes to Connecticut, it will not be Amazon’s first facility in the state. Amazon recently opened a fulfillment center in Windsor and a sorting center in Wallingford. Together those facilities employ about 2,000 people in the state.
