Hogan backs Port Covington as Md.’s entry in Amazon HQ sweepstakes

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Gov. Larry Hogan Friday threw his support behind an effort to convince Amazon to build a second headquarters in Maryland and particularly in the Port Covington area of Baltimore.

The online retail giant recently announced it was in the process of looking for a location to build a second headquarters. That new facility brings the potential for $5 billion in investments and 50,000 jobs.

“As the governor of the state I’d be thrilled with having 50,000 jobs in Maryland whether that is in College Park or Columbia or anywhere else, but I happen to believe that this is the best site that I’ve seen and Baltimore City really could use a shot in the arm more than anywhere else,” Hogan told reporters gathered in Baltimore.

Sagamore Development Co., which was already pursuing building 13,500 residential units, 1.5 million square feet of office space and 200 hotel rooms over the next 20 years in south Baltimore, was quick to express interest in landing Amazon as part of the project. The company announced Wednesday that Goldman Sachs Urban Investment Group had invested $233 million in Port Covington, its single largest investment, and teamed with Sagamore in a joint venture to develop the site.

“We are extremely bullish on the prospect of Amazon coming to Baltimore,” Tom Geddes, CEO of Plank Industries, Sagamore Development Co.’s parent company, said during a phone interview on Wednesday.

Hogan’s announcement Friday, in advance of a late afternoon meeting with Amazon officials, is the latest in a series of declarations by public officials — most of them candidates for governor — in support of locating the proposed new headquarters in the state. And it’s likely to give a significant advantage to the Port Covington proposal over any coming from other parts of the state, including Prince George’s County and Baltimore County.

“This could be transformative,” Hogan said. “Not just for Baltimore City but the whole state of Maryland.”

Maryland is facing stiff competition. Politicians in virtually every state in the country have vowed to spare no expense in convincing the online retail colossus that their state should become the company’s second home.

Hogan expressed excitement over the prospect of bringing more Amazon jobs to Baltimore and spoke Thursday to Lloyd Blankfein, chief executive officer and chairman of Goldman Sachs and met with Sagamore. Baltimore-based Under Armour is also independently building a 3.9 million-square-foot global headquarters on the peninsula that’s largely comprised on underdeveloped industrial property.

“We’re early in the stages of this and we are going to be competing against cities all across the country but I happen to believe this is a tremendous opportunity. I think we meet all of the criteria and we’re going to make our pitch. We’re going to go after it as hard as we possible can. It’s going to be a united effort between us and the city and the folks involved in the (Port Covington) project with the finance team. I’m going to personally be a part of lobbying Jeff Bezos. We’re going to do what we can.”

In the last year, Hogan has pulled together separate incentive packages of $20 million each to convince Northrup Grumman and Marriott International to remain in Maryland. In both of those cases, Hogan said it was about maintaining jobs.

“This is unlike anything we’ve seen before and it would certainly be worth the investment of some dollars,” Hogan said of the opportunity to land the new Amazon corporate headquarters.
Hogan did not specify how much would be involved in an effort to bring Amazon to Baltimore but said it would likely be more than either of those two deals and include money for transportation improvements.

Baltimore has already made a major contribution to the development. Last year the city approved $636 million in tax increment financing for public infrastructure work necessary to support the planned development.

Hogan said most of the state investment will be on the transportation end and not come from the state’s operating budget. He said a federal investment and a public-private partnership could also be likely.

“There’s no doubt that major transportation improvements will be part of any proposal as it is in any major development like this,” said Hogan. “To get 50,000 jobs, it’s certainly worth the state investing in some improvements to transportation in the area.”

Hogan said there would be no effort to revive the Red Line light-rail project he canceled two years ago that would have linked east Baltimore to western Baltimore County. That project also would have been a public-private partnership.

Sen. Richard Madaleno, a candidate for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination, has proposed investing $1 billion in state resources in the University of Maryland to help lure Amazon to College Park, which announced plans to compete for Amazon’s HQ2 this week.

“Instead of doing what so many other states and municipalities are doing in offering massive corporate tax credits, incentives and tax breaks that attract business but also drain public coffers, we would be attracting good jobs while simultaneously investing in our people and growing a Maryland talent pool that might spawn the next Amazon,” Madaleno said in a statement.

Port Covington’s bid lost a potential competitor and gained an important supporter when Baltimore County Executive Kevin Kamenetz, a potential candidate for governor, said earlier in the day his county intends to back Baltimore’s bid for Amazon.

After Amazon announced it was soliciting bids for a second headquarters Kamenetz had issued a statement the county intended to compete for the site and touted a handful of potential sites. But after doing an analysis, Kamenetz said, he decided to back Port Covington’s bid because an opportunity this important needs regional cooperation.

“I really believe that all of our state’s leaders should get behind Port Covington,” Kamenetz said.