Amazon HQ2 thread

[skyscraperpage17]

SmartAsset compiled a list that shows the income needed to rent a 2-bedroom home in different US cities.

If Amazon's concerned about avoiding a repeat of Seattle's situation in terms of COL, the below list could be useful.

https://smartasset.com/mortgage/the-income-needed-to-pay-rent-2017-edition

[JManc]

Originally Posted by Ant131531

Amazon is becoming the Online Walmart except Amazon will become global.

They already are global but they are by no means the leader in online retail...Alibaba is at least 2x their size in sales and that's just China and they are trying to horn in on AMZN's turf.

[mhays]

Originally Posted by skyscraperpage17

SmartAsset compiled a list that shows the income needed to rent a 2-bedroom home in different US cities.

If Amazon's concerned about avoiding a repeat of Seattle's situation in terms of COL, the below list could be useful.

[url]https://smartasset.com/mortgage/the-income-needed-to-pay-rent-2017-edition[/ur

It's important to factor in transportation. Often the more expensive cities are cheaper than they sound because a lot of people don't have cars, or at least don't use them much.

The cost of a one-bedroom apartment is also important, given how many hires are kids out of college, which also plays into the no-car point.

But I suspect that they are interested in a place that's easier for mid-career types with kids including people of the suburban variety.

[10023]

Originally Posted by mhays

It's important to factor in transportation. Often the more expensive cities are cheaper than they sound because a lot of people don't have cars, or at least don't use them much.

The cost of a one-bedroom apartment is also important, given how many hires are kids out of college, which also plays into the no-car point.

But I suspect that they are interested in a place that's easier for mid-career types with kids including people of the suburban variety.

Kids out of college aren't renting one bedroom apartments in top tier cities. They've got roommates.

And I think you're right. It's probably more about retention (or lateral hires) than graduate hires.

[Maldive]

Admit I haven't read the entire thread but are there any other cross-border pitches like Detroit-Windsor?

Interesting article in today's http://thestar.com about the 2 city team: spark the invigoration of a deserving city (one of my favs Detroit) and a pipeline to huge talent Windsor/Kitchener-Waterloo). Not to mention cross border convenience on many levels.

Maybe pie-in-the sky or a great idea that will appeal to Amazon's higher calling lol.

And then someone can send a memo to Trump that Canada/US trading partnership is the largest... he hasn't figured that out (bad in math I guess).

[skyscraperpage17]

Originally Posted by mhays

It's important to factor in transportation. Often the more expensive cities are cheaper than they sound because a lot of people don't have cars, or at least don't use them much.

The cost of a one-bedroom apartment is also important, given how many hires are kids out of college, which also plays into the no-car point.

But I suspect that they are interested in a place that's easier for mid-career types with kids including people of the suburban variety.

Even by the measure of the bolded, I don't think the list changes all that much.

As far as transportation, unless you have a car note for a Cadillac / Lincoln / SUV / Pickup and live in a city/state with a ridiculous cost of insurance, the less expensive cities are still much cheaper than the more expensive cities.

[skyscraperpage17]

Originally Posted by Maldive

Admit I haven't read the entire thread but are there any other cross-border pitches like Detroit-Windsor?

Interesting article in today's http://thestar.com about the 2 city team: spark the invigoration of a deserving city (one of my favs Detroit) and a pipeline to huge talent Windsor/Kitchener-Waterloo). Not to mention cross border convenience on many levels.

Maybe pie-in-the sky or a great idea that will appeal to Amazon's higher calling lol.

And then someone can send a memo to Trump that Canada/US trading partnership is the largest... he hasn't figured that out (bad in math I guess).

I'd be careful using words such as "deserving" to describe a city that's a good fit for Amazon HQ2. People may take it as a bashing of their own city.

But I agree with your overall point. I'm definitely pulling for Detroit to land this.

[Pedestrian]

Originally Posted by Ant131531

Amazon is becoming the Online Walmart except Amazon will become global.

As I stated in a post that was for unknown reasons deleted, Walmart is the online Walmart and it is coming up fast. Walmart bought Jet.com to gain some people with online commerce expertise to smooth up its site and it has determined to put a substantial effort into it. I find that site, which is operated out of San Bruno, CA in the Bay Area, already often offers lower prices than Amazon.com and although I am an almost daily user of Amazon, I find myself going to Walmart.com now about 10-20% of the time after checking both. What Walmart so far lacks in comparison to Amazon is the "Amazon Marketplace". Walmart just sells what Walmart sells but Amazon sells some merchandise itself and it also operates as a bazaar for a vast array of other sellers who have almost anything you can think of (less than 5 times can I recall wanting something nobody on Amazon.com sells).

Walmart, incidentally, is already international and has long made efforts to become more so. There's no reason at all why Walmart.com can't become as global as Amazon.com if it is as otherwise interesting and competitive.

Originally Posted by JManc

They already are global but they are by no means the leader in online retail...Alibaba is at least 2x their size in sales and that's just China and they are trying to horn in on AMZN's turf.

As far as I'm concerned, the success of Alibaba is all about China cleaning up its commercial act. It has to eliminate the fakes, the knock-offs, the tainted food products and all the rest. I've checked Alibaba for purchases a few times but never bought from them because, frankly, I don't trust I'll get what is described and, if it's something pricey, that it'll be real.

[twister244]

Originally Posted by skyscraperpage17

SmartAsset compiled a list that shows the income needed to rent a 2-bedroom home in different US cities.

If Amazon's concerned about avoiding a repeat of Seattle's situation in terms of COL, the below list could be useful.

https://smartasset.com/mortgage/the-income-needed-to-pay-rent-2017-edition

How in the hell is Denver not on this list. Our median rent for a one-bedroom here is over $1300.....

[skyscraperpage17]

Originally Posted by twister244

How in the hell is Denver not on this list. Our median rent for a one-bedroom here is over $1300.....

The list is only amongst the 15 largest MSAs.

[LosAngelesSportsFan]

My source at Amazon says Boston is the front runner. Makes sense other than the cost of living

[C.]

There is no way Boston wins this purely on cost of living in Boston area. I'm skeptical of any "executives" at Amazon leaking that it's a front runner.

[UrbanRevival]

Originally Posted by skyscraperpage17

What you say as far as the economy may be true in Philadelphia, but my understanding is that the smaller cities (Harrisburg, Scranton, etc.) and western PA, including Pittsburgh, still depend quite a bit on manufacturing and the coal industry, even despite strong efforts to diversify the economy.

Based on this interesting Washington Post map measuring change in manufacturing jobs since 2008 (https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/national/manufacturing-in-america/?tid=graphics-story), it's pretty clear that manufacturing decline is acute across Pennsylvania, much like the the entire Northeast, whereas the Midwest and inland South dominates in manufacturing job growth. So no, even the secondary and tertiary Pennsylvania metros are not immune to long-term manufacturing decline.

Coal jobs in Pennsylvania also only amount to around 6,600 jobs (as of 2015, so likely now much lower). Again, despite the obsession with this industry in the media, it's absolutely a "drop in the bucket" as to overall economic impact and of course will continue to slip further into irrelevance due to market forces, no matter what certain elected officials claim: https://www.eia.gov/coal/annual/pdf/table18.pdf

Originally Posted by iheartthed

Pennsylvania is far more of a twin to Michigan than to Illinois. It was no coincidence that Pennsylvania and Michigan both flipped to vote for Trump after neither state voted for a Republican since the 1980s.

It depends on how you're measuring. Economically, Pennsylvania is much closer to Illinois than Michigan, but politically, Pennsylvania is closer to Michigan than Illinois.

I think the biggest difference is that Illinois, essentially due to the out-sized influence of the Chicago metro, is more diverse. Illinois is approximately 61.7% non-Hispanic White, versus 77% in Pennsylvania (per 2016 Census). But that's an aside; I think the point still stands that Pennsylvania's political trajectory is to become more solidly blue-leaning faster than any other current "battleground state."

[iheartthed]

Originally Posted by UrbanRevival

It depends on how you're measuring. Economically, Pennsylvania is much closer to Illinois than Michigan, but politically, Pennsylvania is closer to Michigan than Illinois.

Even economically, I don't think Pennsylvania is closer to Illinois than it is to Michigan. Michigan's 2016 median income was $52K, Pennsylvania's $56K, and Illinois's 60K.

In fact, Pennsylvania's numbers don't really look out-of-line in the context of other Midwest/Rust Belt states -- Pennsylvania has the same median income as Wisconsin. On the other hand, PA does look very out of context in relation to its mid-Atlantic neighbors. It is far behind pretty much every other big mid-Atlantic state.

https://www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/library/publications/2017/acs/acsbr16-02.pdf

[10023]

^ Philly in the east, Pittsburgh in the west and Alabama in the middle.

Illinois is not a battleground state. Or was that your point?

[Ant131531]

Originally Posted by LosAngelesSportsFan

My source at Amazon says Boston is the front runner. Makes sense other than the cost of living

It's between Boston, Atlanta, and Austin. I'm pretty confident in saying this from everything I'm seeing. Classic battle between Logic vs. Logistics vs. Culture. Boston makes the most sense logically. Atlanta makes the most logistically. Austin makes the most sense culturally.

[Pedestrian]

They should put it in Hong Kong and really go toe to toe with Alibaba.

[C.]

Originally Posted by Ant131531

It's between Boston, Atlanta, and Austin. I'm pretty confident in saying this from everything I'm seeing. Classic battle between Logic vs. Logistics vs. Culture. Boston makes the most sense logically. Atlanta makes the most logistically. Austin makes the most sense culturally.

I'm gonna have to come back and quote posts like this when it turns out being none of those cities.

[10023]

Worth a read for some actual analysis (NYT):

Following the (Bike) Trail to Amazon’s Second Headquarters

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/26/business/amazon-headquarters-competition.html

His top candidates at the end are Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Philly, Toronto, Chicago and Boston.

[bnk]

Originally Posted by LosAngelesSportsFan

My source at Amazon says Boston is the front runner. Makes sense other than the cost of living

If I recall you stated that same statement twice in the last 48 hours if I am not correct.


If you don't mind I will pull a larger action dragon card out with better inside action than you could even imagine.


My higher sources at Amazon" inside sources are telling me" its not only the front runner, but was the only option, its going to go to East St. Louis, Illinois. [Bezos is a sucker for strip clubs and titty bars ]

The rest of the 238 metro plans were just for media coverage. All media, positive or negative tends to lean positive so it cant be all that bad, ask the Kardashians.

I'll be sure to keep you all of you guys updated. Of course my source is a very important Amazon big wig and I know lots of big wigs in many important companies. That's why I share this detailed inside knowledge with the rest of you SSP fourmers.

The person or persons [ possible group ] that I am referring to has the total access to the entire thought process and inside information of the site selection process of it all.

My super deep inside sources even know what Bezos it going to do tomorrow and what he is going to eat for breakfast.

Of course I can not devolve the names of these person[s] of this information for the physical safety of the head honcho leakers... Everything I have stated is off the record so.... You know the drill...


Just what everything I have read on the intertubes and the late night call from said deepthroats information bomb, makes this a sure thing for sure. ...

Best wishes to the rest of the losers.