Chamber switches support to Cleveland’s Amazon HQ2 bid

YOUNGSTOWN — The Youngstown-Warren Regional Chamber announced today that it is throwing its support behind Cleveland’s attempt to become the site of the next Amazon headquarters.

The announcement that the chamber will support the Cleveland bid comes after the chamber led an effort to submit Enterprise Park in Niles as a possible Amazon site.

The Vindicator on Sunday documented the shortcomings of the local bid.

The chamber said in a release today that given that the Youngstown-Warren region does not meet Amazon’s criteria for a second corporate headquarters, the chamber and other local leaders “are standing behind the decision of its economic development partners TeamNEO and JobsOhio to submit a Cleveland site that did meet all criteria for consideration for the $5 billion project.”

“Like other communities in Ohio that worked with their regional partners throughout this process, we walked through the positives and negatives of our submission with TeamNEO. As we knew going in, we did not meet all of Amazon’s criteria for the project,” said Sarah Boyarko, senior vice president of economic development at the chamber. “Should Cleveland be selected for HQ2, the Youngstown-Warren area would inevitably grow, as well, with new investment from likely spinoff opportunities and the potential for local expansion ..."