By: Justin Zaremba | NJ Advance Media

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Amazon's campus in Seattle, Washington, photographed from the roof of Amazon's Port 99 building.(Jordan Stead/Amazon)

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With the recent report that four New Jersey cities have advanced to the next round of consideration in order to get the state's support for applications to become the site for Amazon's second headquarters, business and public policy experts weighed in on where the cities of Newark, New Brunswick, Jersey City and Camden stand.

Known as "HQ2," Amazon's second headquarters is expected to bring as many as 50,000 jobs and $5 billion in spending to the area it selects.

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What experts say

"New Jersey’s position between New York and Philadelphia is a real advantage," said James W. Hughes, a professor with Rutgers University's Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy, saying the Garden State's "huge density of labor force" between the two metropolitan areas provides a wellspring the online retail giant could easily tap.

Michele Siekerka, president and CEO of the New Jersey Business and Industry Association, said these four cities "and some others in New Jersey, check all the boxes on what Amazon says it’s looking for."

"These are metropolitan areas with great rail access and a history of successful revitalization and redevelopment," Siekerka said. "These are locations that attract the next-generation worker. Ultimately, New Jersey’s greatest strengths are a highly-educated workforce with lots of technical talent and its location. So these areas would have a lot to offer for Amazon, which has already heavily invested in New Jersey.”

New Jersey Tech Council president and CEO James Barrood said each of the cities has distinct advantages.

"Each has considerable office space capacity and each has very good mass transit options," Barrood said. "I think the reality is that whichever city is ultimately chosen, Amazon's campus would stretch outside the city and utilize the ample space at the plethora of suburban office campuses. In addition, all four cities have good or growing live, work, play options. Wherever Amazon establishes its HQ2, they will transform the city and region."

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The case for Newark

Barrood said Newark has a lot of features working in its favor, including access to New York City via the Northeast Corridor line, a range of cheaper housing possibilities, a local arts scene, access to talent from New Jersey and the New York boroughs, and access to three international airports. Newark's proximity to academia and the company, Audible, are also encouraging, he said.

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Hughes agreed that there many developable sites in Newark, and is accessible to Manhattan via the PATH and Northeast Corridor.

"It's not as close as Jersey City is to Manhattan, but it's an easy train or bus ride away," he said.

Hughes said Amazon's current layout in Seattle was a decentralized structure spread out through the city and surrounding suburbs, so its conceivable the company may mimic this layout in the northern New Jersey or New York metro area.

As far as housing, he said, the city is also accessible to the affluent suburbs for those who want to live in "family-raising environments."

"It's also possible to build a lot of housing in the downtown area," Hughes said. "There's a lot of developable parcels there."

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The case for Jersey City

Hughes said Jersey City provides a lot of options to the online retail giant because it's been "millenial-designated as cool," and has a variety of developable sites along the waterfront and access to the major tech hub across the Hudson River — New York.

Jersey City, he said, also provides accessibility to other family-raising locations and several major higher education clusters due to schools located in the Garden State and across the river.

"You could essentially consider it the sixth borough (of New York)," Hughes said.

Hughes said the cost differential was also significantly less for a commercial property in Jersey City as opposed to Hudson Yards.

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Barrood said Jersey City has the benefit of access to New York City, access to talent from New Jersey and the New York boroughs, access to three international airports and its proximity to academia.

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5 reasons N.J. could land Amazon's new HQ (and 50K jobs), and 3 reasons we won't

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Patti Sapone | NJ Advance Media

The case for New Brunswick

Barrood said New Brunswick has its share of positives, including a range of cheaper housing possibilities, a local arts scene, access to four international airports, access to talent from New Jersey, New York and Philadelphia, and its proximity to academia.

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Hughes said he believed any site located on the Northeast corridor has value, especially in light of New Brunswick serving as a potential link to New York and Philadelphia.

"It’s not a millennial hub to the extent of Jersey City yet, but there has been a lot of rental housing built there," Hughes said.

New Brunswick, he said, is also attractive as its the location of Rutgers University's flagship campus and research area, as well as for its developable properties.

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The case for Camden

Barrood said Camden's positive factors include its access to Philadelphia and Washington D.C., a range of cheaper housing possibilities, access to talent from New Jersey and Philadelphia, access to international airports and its proximity to academia.

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According to Hughes, Camden's attractiveness comes from its link to Philadelphia, its strong educational institutions and health complex and is a low-cost location compared to the City of Brotherly Love. There's also a forming tech cluster in Philadelphia, he said.

The town itself doesn't necessarily have the living situation available for employees, but "there's so much land to develop that housing could be built while the headquarters was being constructed," he said.

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Robert Sciarrino | NJ Advance Media

What stands in the way of these N.J. cities?

Hughes said the biggest challenges for these cities is they haven't attained "the designer label position of an Austin, Texas or a Denver, Colorado which have been tech hubs for a while."

"New Jersey cities haven’t yet established a tech brand, as pharmaceutical companies tend to be out in the suburbs," he said.

In terms of concerns about long commutes, Hughes said, the median commute time is "not a positive, but it's not an overall negative" when compared with other areas with "massive, sprawling transit systems" like Maryland or other areas.

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Other contenders

Other New Jersey towns may still pitch directly to Amazon, but they just won't have the support from the state for their bid. There are also numerous other cities throughout the United States clamoring to be the site for Amazon's new headquarters.

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Justin Zaremba may be reached at jzaremba@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JustinZarembaNJ. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

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