For Amazon’s second headquarters, Virginia Governor McAuliffe backs site adjacent to Dulles International Airport

October 19 is the deadline for cities to pitch to Amazon to try to win the tech company’s second headquarters, otherwise known as HQ2. Amazon’s HQ2 is expected to cost as much as $5 billion, span over 8 million square feet, and bring up to 50,000 workers.

In the state of Virginia, Arlington County, Fairfax County, Loudoun County, and Tysons Corner have shown interest in throwing their hats in to the ring. According to the Washington Post, Governor Terry McAuliffe has overlooked Tysons Corner’s bid and instead backed the plan to pitch the Center for Innovative Technology (CIT) campus, adjacent to Dulles International Airport.

Along with the CIT campus, which is valued at around $30 million, there will also be two privately owned parcels and subsidies from Fairfax and Loudoun counties offered.

Still, McAuliffe has not chosen a single, favorite site for Virginia’s pitch to Amazon, according to the Washington Post. Over a dozen bids are expected to be submitted by private and public sector stakeholders in the D.C. area.

Amazon plans to make a decision by early 2018.

In response to the news that McAuliffe has backed the CIT campus, Donna Shafer, executive vice president at Tysons Corner-based developer Cityline Partners, told the Washington Post that she is disappointed that Tysons Corner is not also being strongly considered for HQ2.

In a Washington Post interview, Shafer said, “We’re disappointed, and it’s confounding. We don’t understand how the county wins by taking options off the table. Nobody knows exactly what Amazon wants.”

Despite not being backed by McAuliffe, Shafer said that Cityline Partners will still submit a proposal to Amazon.

• Tysons Corner — darling of corporate America — passed over in Northern Virginia’s pursuit of Amazon headquarters [The Washington Post]