Labor supply and business environment — not just economic incentive giveaways — will be the key to landing Amazon's new headquarters complex, Dallas-area real estate executives say.

The Seattle-based digital retailer's plan to set up a second head office in the U.S. has fired up the local commercial property market as brokers try to get their heads around Amazon's plans.

A $5 billion investment, Amazon's office campus would cost five times the amount Toyota spent consolidating its new North American headquarters in Plano. And the projected employment of as many as 50,000 is 10 times the number of workers Toyota has at its new campus.

"This thing is the equivalent of State Farm Insurance plus Liberty Mutual plus Toyota and JPMorgan Chase," all companies with large new office centers in the Dallas area, said Randy Cooper, vice chairman with commercial real estate firm Cushman & Wakefield. "That's the kind of scale they are talking about.

"When it's all said and done, it will be one of the more famous real estate stories for the modern era," said Cooper, who worked with State Farm to locate 10,000 employees at its new Richardson campus.

Texas cities will be off to the races in trying to attract Amazon's huge new employment center.

Local real estate brokers are betting that the Dallas area will have an edge over most other major markets in the state and beyond.

Cooper said Amazon has asked communities making proposals for its headquarters to think big.

"Who thinks bigger than Dallas?" he asked. "We've got Big Tex, for God's sake.

"Any company that's analyzing their opportunities would have to consider Dallas to be a strong contender. It's going to be valued at billions and billions of dollars for one of the most exciting companies on Earth."

Amazon already has a big presence in North Texas, with multiple distribution centers in the area. The online retailer also is expanding its major regional office in the Galleria complex on LBJ Freeway.

Constraints in the Seattle market are sending Amazon looking for room to grow, real estate brokers say.

"My thought is that they are running into labor problems and attracting people," said Jeff Ellerman, vice chairman with CBRE. "I've got to believe that trying to attract talent to Seattle is probably at the tipping point.

"They are going to have to attract thousands of people in the next 10 years, and they have to have another beachhead to do that."

Ellerman expects a scramble to get Amazon's attention.

'I'm sure Dallas and other cities in the Metroplex will take this very seriously and will aggressively pursue this," he said. "I have to believe this is more about labor than it is about incentives, and the Metroplex will compete favorably.

"Incentives are the icing on the cake, not the reason you come here. If you can't recruit and retain labor, that's got to be your number one driver."

The last time Dallas competed in such a high-profile corporate relocation contest was in 2001 when Boeing decided to move its headquarters — also from Seattle. Downtown Dallas lost the Boeing move to Chicago — an embarrassing result for the area.

John Crawford of Downtown Dallas Inc. said the central business district will be a stronger competitor this time.

"Based on what downtown has now become as a major urban environment compared to what we were when Boeing was looking, there is no reason that we would not be at the top of Amazon's list as a headquarters location," Crawford said.

"We will be doing everything possible to make sure we put our best foot forward in making these benefits known to Amazon."

Local property brokers and developers are understandably raring to go.

"It's going to create a major frenzy," said David Wetherington of Colliers International. "The top developers are going to be scrambling to figure out where can we put 8 million square feet.

"It would go down as the biggest deal ever to date in our market."