Dallas mayor disappointed after Amazon HQ2 goes to New York, Virginia

After a lengthy courtship, Amazon officially announced Tuesday it will not build its second headquarters in Dallas.

Dallas made it to the shortlist out of nearly 240 proposals, but the online giant said it will be splitting HQ2 and its 50,000 new jobs between cities in New York and Virginia.

“This morning I got a phone call from Amazon telling us that we lost,” said Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings at a Tuesday press conference. “This does not make us happy. We competed hard we competed well but we did not succeed.”

Rawlings was admittedly disappointed that of Dallas fell just short of the finish line.

“They admitted a fascination with the East Coast and it was important to their leadership team,” Rawlings said.

Sites in Long Island City, New York and Crystal City, Virginia will each get about 25,000 new jobs.

SMU economist Mike Davis said it’s no coincidence Amazon chose to open up shop near the nation’s capital.

“It's very helpful if Amazon can send people two Metro stops down the line to K Street to meet with lobbyists and go to the House and meet with congress people,” Davis said.

But the decision also came down to numbers. The two winning states each offered an estimated $1.5 billion in incentives. That's more than double the $600 million the Dallas was offering -- not including any additional cash from the Lone Star State.

“We did not want to give away the farm, as the governor said to me, which I think is the right approach,” Rawlings said.

Rawlings revealed that Amazon was interested in three downtown Dallas area locations - near Reunion Tower, the Cedars and south of city hall. The city talked about building a deck over Interstate 30 to connect those areas.

“We know we're in the running to be corporate headquarters. Amazon isn't the only big company in the world and it won't be the last which will look at Dallas and certainly not the last to come here,” Rawlings said.

Rawlings said it's important for the state legislature to support public and higher education to help develop homegrown high-skilled workforce companies like Amazon to relocate in Dallas.