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Irvine Company Elevates Frenzied Competition for Amazon HQ2

The competition to land Amazon’s HQ2 ratcheted to new heights with the public unveiling of the City of Irvine’s proposal. In the $5-billion sweepstakes for the e-commerce giant’s second headquarters, Irvine’s offer encompasses a fully-financed and fully-approved solution that arrives with the backing of the wealthiest real estate baron in America, Irvine Company’s Donald Bren.

The developer is offering to provide Amazon eight million square feet of interconnected campuses within Irvine Spectrum. Amazon will not be required to invest capital for land acquisition, buildings or entitlements to build its new campus.

Irvine Company Chairman Bren’s personal letter to Amazon’s founder and CEO, Jeffrey Bezos, laid out the case. “With the Irvine Company proposal, Amazon will not be required to invest capital for land acquisition, buildings, or entitlements to build your new campus,” wrote Bren. “In essence, you would have a one-click shopping opportunity and be able to capitalize on our in-place property development rights, thus avoiding potential delays, because Irvine Company has invested more than 60 years master planning 93,000 acres of land, and designing and overseeing the creation of the largest new city in America…Irvine, California.”

Bids were due Thursday, and Amazon plans to announce a winner sometime next year.


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About Dennis Kaiser

Dennis Kaiser is Vice President of Content and Public Relations for Connect Commercial Real Estate. Dennis is a communications leader with more than 30 years of experience including as a journalist and in corporate and agency marketing communications roles. He is responsible for Connect’s client content operations and is involved in a range of initiatives ranging from content strategy, message development, copywriting, media relations, social media and content marketing services. In his most recent corporate communications roles, he led a regional public relations effort across Southern California for CBRE, played a key marketing role on JLL’s national retail team, and was responsible for directing the global public relations effort at ValleyCrest, the nation’s largest commercial landscape services company. In addition to his vast commercial real estate experience, Dennis has worked on communications and launch strategies for a number of residential projects such as Disney’s Celebration in Florida, Ritter Ranch in Palmdale California (7,200 homes, 22,000 acres), WaterColor in Florida and PremierGarage in Phoenix. Dennis’s agency background included firms such as Idea Hall and Macy + Associates. He has earned an outstanding reputation with organization leaders as a trusted advisor, strategic program implementer, consensus builder and exceptional collaborator. Dennis has developed and managed national communications programs for Fortune 500 companies to start-ups, both public and private. He’s successfully worked with journalists across the globe representing clients involved in major-breaking news stories, product launches, media tours, and company news announcements. Dennis has been involved in a host of charitable and community organizations including the American Cancer Society, Easter Seals, BoyScouts, Chrysalis Foundation, Freedom For Life, HOLA, L.A.’s BEST, Reach Out and Read, Super Bowl Host Committee, and Thunderbirds Charities.