Amazon HQ2 thread

[Sun Belt]

Bezos' homes in Beverly Hills. He's got a nice compound!


businessinsider.com


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[Pedestrian]

Originally Posted by Khantilever

C’mon, this stuff about Bezos buying a house there predicting HQ2 is a little ridiculous.

Hope I can find these posts when he picks DC. I just wonder what came first--the house or the desire for a second HQ in the Beltway region. I think Bezos wants to be a political power player now and to do that he has to spend a lot of time in or near DC and it's more convenient if his business is there too (as well as his mouthpiece, the WaPo). He may have decided to build an HQ there before he bought the house.

[Khantilever]

Originally Posted by Pedestrian

Hope I can find these posts when he picks DC. I just wonder what came first--the house or the desire for a second HQ in the Beltway region. I think Bezos wants to be a political power player now and to do that he has to spend a lot of time in or near DC and it's more convenient if his business is there too (as well as his mouthpiece, the WaPo). He may have decided to build an HQ there before he bought the house.

con·fir·ma·tion bi·as - the tendency to interpret new evidence as confirmation of one's existing beliefs or theories.

If Amazon ultimately chooses DC for HQ2, it could have nothing whatsoever to do with Bezos' home there. You're not even addressing the various arguments I made about why his home there is not useful for predicting Amazon's HQ2 location (note: this is not the same as arguing that DC will not be their choice).

[Pedestrian]

^^I'm not addressing your arguments because your arguments are the same speculation every other post in this thread is. But my specualtion is he wants a DC headquarters (for his business and his life) and we'll all find out if I'm right when the announcement comes.

This thread should not be taken seriously.

[Sun Belt]

Originally Posted by Pedestrian

I think Bezos wants to be a political power player now and to do that he has to spend a lot of time in or near DC and it's more convenient if his business is there too (as well as his mouthpiece, the WaPo).

I think you're right on this thought.

With that said, a man of his wealth can buy a house anywhere at anytime. So I am not convinced that he bought a house in DC years ago with the idea of an HQ2 being located there.

I would guess that he wants a home in the DC area because of his political influence, ambitions and his owning of the Washington Post.

[JManc]

Yeah, i think the DC house is a sign of him wanting to be more hands on with the WaPo which he has taken an active role with. I think he's using it to further assert his influence...the Post has been a thorn in Trump's side for years. Though I heard he wants to buy the Pentagon and turn into a distribution center...

[Gresto]

One thing I don't understand about super-rich people is why they need or want a 30,000+ sq.ft. house. For lavish soirees? Imagine the astronomical taxes and endless rooms no one ever uses. What unmitigated waste and decadence. Doesn't Bill Gates have a 50,000 sq.ft. house near Seattle? He lives there with his wife and two kids, maybe a few servants and bodyguards. The rest of the place gathers dust. The desire for gargantuan houses, not to mention multiple homes on different continents, just doesn't make sense to me.

[10023]

Originally Posted by Gresto

One thing I don't understand about super-rich people is why they need or want a 30,000+ sq.ft. house. For lavish soirees? Imagine the astronomical taxes and endless rooms no one ever uses. What unmitigated waste and decadence. Doesn't Bill Gates have a 50,000 sq.ft. house near Seattle? He lives there with his wife and two kids, maybe a few servants and bodyguards. The rest of the place gathers dust. The desire for gargantuan houses, not to mention multiple homes on different continents, just doesn't make sense to me.

It doesn't matter what it costs, he has infinite money.

He also needs a household staff, and yes, the ability to host people wherever he goes. And guys like that don't pack to travel, they just have everything they need in every city that they visit regularly.

[The North One]

Originally Posted by Gresto

One thing I don't understand about super-rich people is why they need or want a 30,000+ sq.ft. house. For lavish soirees? Imagine the astronomical taxes and endless rooms no one ever uses. What unmitigated waste and decadence. Doesn't Bill Gates have a 50,000 sq.ft. house near Seattle? He lives there with his wife and two kids, maybe a few servants and bodyguards. The rest of the place gathers dust. The desire for gargantuan houses, not to mention multiple homes on different continents, just doesn't make sense to me.

I don't like them either, mega mansions should be taxed to hell. Not sure what the point of a compound is unless you're isolated in Montana or something.

[chris08876]

Originally Posted by The North One

I don't like them either, mega mansions should be taxed to hell. Not sure what the point of a compound is unless you're isolated in Montana or something.

I could think of many things to do. Could ride a small tricycle around the long hallways until you encounter two twins at the end of the hallway.

Also, the probability exists of hearing "here's johnny" the more isolated you are and with more doors in the home.

Its really what you make of it with a mansion. Can throw a Wolf of Wall Street style party. Plenty of fun to be had.

Originally Posted by Gresto

One thing I don't understand about super-rich people is why they need or want a 30,000+ sq.ft. house. For lavish soirees? Imagine the astronomical taxes and endless rooms no one ever uses. What unmitigated waste and decadence. Doesn't Bill Gates have a 50,000 sq.ft. house near Seattle?

Yeah but the same could be said for cars. Look at Jay Leno. Shit... if I had that money, I'd be collecting cars too. Why have one Ferrari when you can have them all and from every decade?

That's the benefits of being rich. You could buy the Whiskey or Wine from the 1700's, take a sip, throw it on the floor, and have your maid, Armando, clean it up. In the end, who cares, your filthy rich!

[10023]

Originally Posted by The North One

I don't like them either, mega mansions should be taxed to hell. Not sure what the point of a compound is unless you're isolated in Montana or something.

What's the difference between a 30,000 square foot house and a 30,000 square foot apartment? Those exist too.

It's like old country estates. They're not huge because a 5 person family needs lots of space. They're huge because of staff.

Think of one of Bezos' houses as a small business employing two dozen people, and the space starts to make sense.

[James Bond Agent 007]

Originally Posted by Gresto

One thing I don't understand about super-rich people is why they need or want a 30,000+ sq.ft. house. For lavish soirees? Imagine the astronomical taxes and endless rooms no one ever uses. What unmitigated waste and decadence. Doesn't Bill Gates have a 50,000 sq.ft. house near Seattle? He lives there with his wife and two kids, maybe a few servants and bodyguards. The rest of the place gathers dust. The desire for gargantuan houses, not to mention multiple homes on different continents, just doesn't make sense to me.

I've often wondered that too. What does one do with all that space? Sometimes I think these ultra-rich people buy huge mansions just because they can.

[James Bond Agent 007]

Originally Posted by 10023

What's the difference between a 30,000 square foot house and a 30,000 square foot apartment? Those exist too.

It's like old country estates. They're not huge because a 5 person family needs lots of space. They're huge because of staff.

Think of one of Bezos' houses as a small business employing two dozen people, and the space starts to make sense.

Yeah, but many of these mansions he only spends, like, maybe a month or two per year in. Why does one need staff for a place when you're hardly ever there? You could easily just build a small cottage on a large lot (for privacy) and that would work fine. Or rent a nice apartment.

[Pedestrian]

Originally Posted by James Bond Agent 007

Yeah, but many of these mansions he only spends, like, maybe a month or two per year in. Why does one need staff for a place when you're hardly ever there? You could easily just build a small cottage on a large lot (for privacy) and that would work fine. Or rent a nice apartment.

You need "staff" for a house you don't occupy more than you need it for one you do. Things always break and if nobody's there to notice the damage gets much worse. And things could more easily break and go unnoticed in a very large house than in a small one unless there were people visiting the rooms regularly. Like cars are made to be driven and deteriorate when just sitting, houses are made to be lived in.

That's actually one advantage of the 30,000 sf apartment--since you usually aren't responsible for external maintenance, things like roof leaks or hail damage are somebody else's problem and there is somebody else to take action when you aren't there.

[James Bond Agent 007]

If you didn't have so much space, you wouldn't need so much extra maintenance. If you've got a regular 2-br apartment you go to just every couple of months, it's easy to do any maintenance yourself. Or at worst, if you're too busy you can hire a maid to show up every month or so to give the place a dusting off.

[10023]

Many of us on this forum are urbanites, and live in quite modest spaces, but let's not pretend for a moment that any of us wouldn't buy a 30,000 square foot apartment if we could.

I can think of plenty of things to do with that space, from a gym, to a home cinema, to a wine cellar the size of my current apartment.

[YSL]

Originally Posted by Pedestrian

Read more at: https://www.bisnow.com/new-york/news/eco...?utm_source=CopyShare&utm_medium=Browser

I think there's an excellent chane this is right on.

Re the seaport issue, I agree it is almost irrelevant but it so happens Alexandria used to be a seaport and the Potomac is navigable to Great Falls, upstream of Washington.

Jeff Bezos also has even more expensive homes in NYC and Los Angeles. I've never seen so much fanfare about someone buying a house. I know famous, mega-rich, non-political people buying homes in DC is unheard of, so headline worthy, but I don't think it means anything other than him wanting a base near the WaPo and space to host parties for politicians.

According to the NYT, Jeff Bezos only visits Washington, DC a few times per year so I doubt he will be spending much time at HQ2 either. He has an amazing private jet that can whisk him away to HQ the few times per year he wants to visit.

[Car(e)-Free LA]

Originally Posted by 10023

Many of us on this forum are urbanites, and live in quite modest spaces, but let's not pretend for a moment that any of us wouldn't buy a 30,000 square foot apartment if we could.

I can think of plenty of things to do with that space, from a gym, to a home cinema, to a wine cellar the size of my current apartment.

Eh. I'd rather have a small apartment and use the money to play God. I'd rather singlehandedly build the next Dubai than live in luxury.

[mhays]

I'd hate a space that big. A few hundred more square feet would be good.

[Quixote]

Originally Posted by Car(e)-Free LA

Eh. I'd rather have a small apartment and use the money to play God. I'd rather singlehandedly build the next Dubai than live in luxury.

That's what I was thinking earlier this morning after looking up his net worth. For me, the best part about having $115.8 billion would be figuring out how to put it toward the greater good (I'd start with extending the Purple Line to Santa Monica). One could pretty much buy all the homes, yachts, and luxury items they ever wanted with a net worth of *just* $1 billion. What the hell do you do with the rest?