The Cost Of Philadelphia's Amazon HQ Bid
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- The bills are coming in for Philadelphia's bid to win Amazon's second corporate headquarters, but most of the money is staying right here. The city hired a lot of outside help, but many of them were Philadelphia companies
The written proposal was just one part of the bid.
The other was a website produced by six local small businesses, with multiple videos ,slick graphics, and interactive maps; something Anne Nevins, senior vice president of the Philadelphia Industrial Development Corporation, says she hasn't seen in any other proposal.
"It was really amazing to watch it come together and know it was these incredibly talented Philadelphia people that were behind it all," Nevins said.
Philadelphia has spent nearly a quarter of a million dollars, so far, trying to lure online retail giant Amazon.
That doesn't include the hundreds of hours of staff time that went into the intense, month-long effort.
"There were days where people working on this were up at 4 a.m. and then going till midnight the next night. It was pretty intensive," said Nevins.
The PIDC, handled the contracts for a creative director, web developers, graphic design, and video producers for the bid itself.
It spent about $160,000 from its own Economic Stimulus Program and funds from the Knight Foundation and the Chamber of Commerce.
Visit Philly spent another $85,000 on bus wraps and social media in Seattle.
If it gets Amazon's second headquarters, that may seem like a bargain, and Nevins says the process itself had value in demonstrating the city's assets.
"Regardless of what happens, how do we take that energy and build on that for business retention, entrepreneurial growth, and business attraction, in general, going forward?" she said.
