Amazon reveals top 20 city candidates for its second HQ

[tynopik]

https://techcrunch.com/2018/01/18/amazon-reveals-top-20-city-candidates-for-its-second-hq/

Atlanta, GA
Austin, TX
Boston, MA
Chicago, IL
Columbus, OH
Dallas, TX
Denver, CO
Indianapolis, IN
Los Angeles, CA
Miami, FL
Montgomery County, MD
Nashville, TN
Newark, NJ
New York City, NY
Northern Virginia, VA
Philadelphia, PA
Pittsburgh, PA
Raleigh, NC
Toronto, ON
Washington D.C.

a quarter of the finalists are from just 2 areas, DC (DC, Northern Virginia, Montgomery County) and NYC (NYC, Newark)

surprised the Detroit/Windsor bid didn't make the cut after the attention it received earlier

 

[Thump553]

Here's hoping they pick Newark. That would tweak a lot of noses.

Seriously though I hope whatever city they pick forestalls from the usual bribes (politely called incentives).

 

[glenn1]

Here's hoping they pick Newark. That would tweak a lot of noses.

Seriously though I hope whatever city they pick forestalls from the usual bribes (politely called incentives).

I would think 3 hour time difference makes that a tough choice, I'm thinking ≤ 2 hour time zone difference max. Plus since their main HQ is already in an extremely high cost coastal area I'm thinking they go with somewhere cheaper and inland for disaster recovery, redundancy, and diversity in human capital talent factors. Columbus is an up-and-comer city and stands a good chance, Nashville for the same basic reasons.

 

[bshole]

Here's hoping they pick Newark. That would tweak a lot of noses.

Seriously though I hope whatever city they pick forestalls from the usual bribes (politely called incentives).

http://www.nj.com/essex/index.ssf/2017/12/baraka_to_nyc_back_off_amazon_and_support_newarks.html

The state is offering about $7 billion in breaks and incentives in an attempt to lure the online retailer. The company is expected to announce a short list of finalist cities in early 2018.

What will Amazon offer to lure employees?

 

[Phokus]

So which city is going to give them the most ridiculous free land/ridiculous tax cuts/subsidies is the question

 

[Homerboy]

So which city is going to give them the most ridiculous free land/ridiculous tax cuts/subsidies is the question

They really should call up Scotty Walker. He's got all kinds of shit to hand out as incentives.

 

[SlowSpyder]

So which city is going to give them the most ridiculous free land/ridiculous tax cuts/subsidies is the question

Foxcon set a pretty high bar, and they're not Amazon. I'm waiting to see how big the incentives are, probably going to be nuts.

 

[PricklyPete]

Please don’t pick Denver, please don’t pick Denver. We have enough people flooding in.

 

[fskimospy]

I would think 3 hour time difference makes that a tough choice, I'm thinking ≤ 2 hour time zone difference max. Plus since their main HQ is already in an extremely high cost coastal area I'm thinking they go with somewhere cheaper and inland for disaster recovery, redundancy, and diversity in human capital talent factors. Columbus is an up-and-comer city and stands a good chance, Nashville for the same basic reasons.

I agree that high land costs will make an NYC campus a stretch. Newark is much cheaper and less susceptible to natural disasters though, while still likely pulling from the same/similar talent pool.

It will be an interesting question of what matters more, land costs and logistics or talent acquisition. If they want the most attractive place for talent NYC makes a lot of sense. If they care about costs and logistical issues more it doesn't.

 

[fskimospy]

Please don’t pick Denver, please don’t pick Denver. We have enough people flooding in.

Why would more people in Denver be a bad thing?

 

[repoman0]

Why would more people in Denver be a bad thing?

Increased traffic, soaring housing costs, overcrowded public spaces and parks, etc.

I'm hoping they pick Boston but only because I plan to leave and rent out my condo in a couple years.

 

[fskimospy]

Increased traffic, soaring housing costs, overcrowded public spaces and parks, etc.

I'm hoping they pick Boston but only because I plan to leave and rent out my condo in a couple years.

None of those things have to actually happen though, those are all policy choices. Build more houses, build transit, etc. Hell, Denver should probably be doing that anyway and I'm sure an influx of billions in investment would go a long way to making that happen.

Same with Boston, btw. I have a bunch of friends up there who are always saying similar things, that they hope nobody else moves there. Since that's unlikely to happen the city probably should have been building tons of housing over the last few decades. They've failed so far but there's no time to start like the present!

 

[zinfamous]

If they come here there better be a requirement to add 30-40% to PT infrastructure and a flat restriction from garbage stick-built yuppie towncondos popping up everywhere. gah.

 

[glenn1]

If they come here there better be a requirement to add 30-40% to PT infrastructure and a flat restriction from garbage stick-built yuppie towncondos popping up everywhere. gah.

What's your problem with stick built or do you just not understand what the term means? Would you prefer modular construction? Or want mobile homes?

 

[brycejones]

I'm not shocked Detroit/Windsor was knocked out. Given the current emphasis on boarder security splitting between the two countries would have been a giant PITA.

 

[Denly]

I said it before and I will say it again, money wise Toronto is likely the cheapest place to operate. All the land they ever need west of Toronto, cheap health insurance(gov cover the rest), min natural disaster, near airport, cheap wages(exchange rate), large pool of cheap high skill worker from immigrant and universities near by, high speed train in the work and highway network.

 

[JSt0rm]

So hardly any southern cities. No capable job skills in those areas I guess.

They will probably drop it in los angeles. We dont even care if we get it but yeah, we have intelligent people here.

 

[zinfamous]

What's your problem with stick built or do you just not understand what the term means? Would you prefer modular construction? Or want mobile homes?

Ugly ass Ryan faux luxury homes that metastasize through otherwise pleasant areas, sapping all remaining soul and culture out of whatever community they spread into. Soon to be followed by fucking golf courses, leased Audis, and Stein Marts.

 

[zinfamous]

So hardly any southern cities. No capable job skills in those areas I guess.

They will probably drop it in los angeles. We dont even care if we get it but yeah, we have intelligent people here.

Have you ever been to Austin, Raleigh, or Atlanta?

Raleigh has the highest concentration of PhD's per capita, in the country.

 

[KMFJD]

I'm not shocked Detroit/Windsor was knocked out. Given the current emphasis on boarder security splitting between the two countries would have been a giant PITA.

Yeah that bid was all sorts of strange....'you know what will make this bid better, we will partner with a small city across a body of water in another country...where the bridges and tunnels are already jam packed...'

 

[JSt0rm]

Have you ever been to Austin, Raleigh, or Atlanta?

Raleigh has the highest concentration of PhD's per capita, in the country.

I said hardly. Austin is blue af.

 

[herm0016]

None of those things have to actually happen though, those are all policy choices. Build more houses, build transit, etc. Hell, Denver should probably be doing that anyway and I'm sure an influx of billions in investment would go a long way to making that happen.

Same with Boston, btw. I have a bunch of friends up there who are always saying similar things, that they hope nobody else moves there. Since that's unlikely to happen the city probably should have been building tons of housing over the last few decades. They've failed so far but there's no time to start like the present!

LOL. you don't live on the front range.
about 10000 people per month move here in the area between co springs and Fort Collins. shitty PUDs are going up at a feverish pace, RTD is building more light rail with plans to get it to more and more burbs and the people around here are protesting against every project for some reason or another. the local governments are out of there liberal minds opposing most of the development and keeping arcane regulations like height limits of 55 feet to try to keep the rif raf out and the white rich people in. Boulder, Lafayette, Erie, FoCo, and others. the median and mean home price in boulder is well over 1M dollars and the city is opposing flood mitigation for thousands of housing units because they will have to regrade some open space for example. They buried the info that the housing was built in a flood area for 20 years so as not to make there residents aware of the need for flood insurance until after their homes all flooded.
in Denver, CDOT wants to make I-70 through town a tunnel with a park on top and people around there are suing them for being racists because the construction will take years and they may be affected in a mostly minority neighborhood. The people around here picket to save the Fing prairie dogs in a vacant lot for gods sake.

the proposed location for the amazon facility is just down the road from me where Storagetek used to be, the big magnetic tape computer storage company from the 80s.

there is no way for anything to keep up with this pace and amount of BS red tape and ridiculous activism.

 

[obidamnkenobi]

Increased traffic, soaring housing costs, overcrowded public spaces and parks, etc.

I'm hoping they pick Boston but only because I plan to leave and rent out my condo in a couple years.

Hey that's great if you do own a home..

People in rural areas complain there is no economic development or jobs. People in cities complain that all the economic development cause congestion and crowding. Nobody's every happy!

 

[glenn1]

Ugly ass Ryan faux luxury homes that metastasize through otherwise pleasant areas, sapping all remaining soul and culture out of whatever community they spread into. Soon to be followed by fucking golf courses, leased Audis, and Stein Marts.

That's an architecture and design concern with aesthetics, "stick built" is a construction factor. Given the right money and permits I could build you a mobile home that looked like the Taj Mahal, would that really please you better than the stick built 'faux luxury" homes that at least have the benefit of being built onsite?

 

[K1052]

My list is still Philly, Chicago, Denver, or Atlanta. Dark horse candidates Newark and Raleigh.

NYC/DC/Boston/LA/Miami area bids out due to cost of living/housing/transportation issues. Most of the other metros are too small still and lack substantial items from the main bid requirements.