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Detroit Mayor Duggan and Dan Gilbert go national to lure Amazon to city

Posted at 3:32 PM, Sep 29, 2017
and last updated 2017-09-29 16:49:33-04

The Motor City is gaining momentum in its push to become the home of Amazon's second headquarters.

Quicken Loans Founder Dan Gilbert and Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan were both on CNBC’s Squawk Boxtoday pushing hard to convince the online retailer to choose Detroit.

Gilbert, who's leading the charge, said Amazon could benefit from Detroit's proximity to Canada.

“You can be the first company -- maybe in the world -- I’m not exactly even sure, but I think in the U.S.-Canada for sure, that puts their second headquarters on an international border,” said Gilbert.

Both Gilbert and Duggan touted the universities in Michigan that would benefit the Amazon workforce. Gilbert pointed to Michigan State University’s supply chain management program and Duggan said University of Michigan is constantly feeding talent to Amazon’s headquarters in Seattle.

Duggan also pointed to the ample space Detroit has for such a large business, noting that there is “plenty of room” for the 8 million square feet in office space needed.

Just hours after appearing on national TV, Gilbert Tweeted a short video that read “Momentum breeds momentum” and used hashtags #AmzongDetroit and #AmazongHQ2.

The 30-second video looked more like a tourism ad – enticing viewers to all the city has to offer.

At the end of the video -- it says the story begins October 19. That's when Detroit and other cities have to submit their official proposals to Amazon.