Amazon HQ2

[urbancore]

Originally Posted by zurich

Jeff Bezos (IMO) already view's Austin like many of us---IE a city that is not ready to grow up. Austin doesn't even know how to run its own community -- infrastructure is god awful, the light rail was a patch job on existing tracks, museums are better in Abilene, "master planned" Waller Creek is now a failed collapsing disaster and the only major sport's franchise is about ready to run away. JB is only pacifying the existing Whole Foods employees so he can tell them Amazon did their due diligence. Don't get excited, it ain't happening while Mayor Adler is still riding the coattails of Austin's success from 2015 and prior.

All of the other top 20 cities have the issues Austin has, some have it wayyy worse. I agree we need more muesums, and the only sports is UT, but I doubt those reasons are on his radar.

The biggest reason to come to Austin is money. It will be far cheaper to employ 50k employees in a right to work state that has plenty of room to grow (than say DC or Boston). And the employees will enjoy a better quality of life. Follow the $.

[eskimo33]

Just to throw another rumor on the (giant) pile that we already have. My Aunt is a Senior VP at Microsoft in Seattle (who moved from Austin about three years ago), she was talking to one of her counterparts at Amazon who knows that she used to live in Austin. My Aunt got the feeling (from the Amazon employee) that Amazon's executive staff is pushing for H2 to be located in Boston. Who knows if this is true? I do not, but we can all guess that that Boston might be high on the list.

[emathias]

Originally Posted by Dcbrickley

All of the other top 20 cities have the issues Austin has, some have it wayyy worse. I agree we need more muesums, and the only sports is UT, but I doubt those reasons are on his radar.

The biggest reason to come to Austin is money. It will be far cheaper to employ 50k employees in a right to work state that has plenty of room to grow (than say DC or Boston). And the employees will enjoy a better quality of life. Follow the $.

1) Not all of the 20 have the same issues Austin does. If you really believe that, describe how Boston, Washington, and Chicago have those issues.

2) "Quality of life" is perhaps the most subjective measure ever devised. Stating that in Austin "employees will enjoy a better quality of life" is indefensible. If by "better quality of life" you mean "enjoy fewer extremely cold days, lower home prices for homes in suburban, single-family-home tract neighborhoods, and no income taxes," then, sure, Austin would have a "better quality of life," but as soon as employees start to like being able to see professional sports in their own city, start to enjoy being able to visit internationally-recognized museums, listen to internationally-recognized classical music such as orchestras or operas or Broadway-style stage productions, start to enjoy having access to the sort of public speakers brought in by globally "Top 20" educational institutions, start to prefer having access to efficient mass transit, or any number of other considerations, Austin's ability to offer a "quality of life" comparable to places like Boston, Chicago, Washington, New York, or even, to a certain extent, Atlanta, LA, or Dallas, falls off the face of the earth.

P.S. Also, I don't think that at the level of the average hire Amazon will have, that costs specifically related to "right to work" laws really change the compensation costs much. To the extent that Amazon can pay Texans less than Bostonians, it will be due more to local cost of living than anything else.

[loonytoony]

What's with the sudden influx of out of city trolls.. Perhaps SXSW, or did we touch a nerve somewhere..?

[clubtokyo]

From the Boston sub:

Aaron Pressman - January 11, 2018 - MSN Money http://www.msn.com/en-us/money/compa...z&ocid=U453DHP

Amazon is in talks to lease 500,000 square feet of offices in Boston’s Fort Point Channel neighborhood, a hot destination for tech companies, with an option to double the amount of space also being discussed, the Boston Globe reported Thursday. The search started before Amazon publicly disclosed its HQ2 search, the paper said.

That sounds a lot like the first stage of the plan Amazon laid out for HQ2. Though the second headquarters is ultimately projected to house 50,000 workers in a $5 billion, 8-million square foot campus by 2027, Amazon said the first phase of the project would be to open about 500,000 square feet of space in 2019 in the new city...


How much square feet of office space does Amazon currently have in the Austin area?

[Novacek]

Originally Posted by clubtokyo

From the Boston sub:

Aaron Pressman - January 11, 2018 - MSN Money http://www.msn.com/en-us/money/compa...z&ocid=U453DHP

Bad link


Boston globe reports that it's not HQ2.

https://www.bostonglobe.com/business/201...eaport/eCZvhGNTm88IBW6F6AnXTP/story.html

[clubtokyo]

Originally Posted by Novacek

Bad link


Boston globe reports that it's not HQ2.

https://www.bostonglobe.com/business/201...eaport/eCZvhGNTm88IBW6F6AnXTP/story.html

ok gotcha, but does anyone know much sqft Amazon currently has in Austin?

[78701]

Originally Posted by clubtokyo

ok gotcha, but does anyone know much sqft amazon currently has in austin?

76,000

[chundercracker]

Originally Posted by clubtokyo

From the Boston sub:

Aaron Pressman - January 11, 2018 - MSN Money http://www.msn.com/en-us/money/compa...z&ocid=U453DHP

Amazon is in talks to lease 500,000 square feet of offices in Boston’s Fort Point Channel neighborhood, a hot destination for tech companies, with an option to double the amount of space also being discussed, the Boston Globe reported Thursday. The search started before Amazon publicly disclosed its HQ2 search, the paper said.

That sounds a lot like the first stage of the plan Amazon laid out for HQ2. Though the second headquarters is ultimately projected to house 50,000 workers in a $5 billion, 8-million square foot campus by 2027, Amazon said the first phase of the project would be to open about 500,000 square feet of space in 2019 in the new city...


How much square feet of office space does Amazon currently have in the Austin area?

For perspective, FB leased about 230k+ (half of 500k) sq ft in the third+shoal building. I believe Amazon also had an expansion planned for Austin as well but development was tabled when the HQ2 search began.

[AusTxDevelopment]

Originally Posted by clubtokyo

ok gotcha, but does anyone know much sqft Amazon currently has in Austin?

Amazon had leased 75,000 square feet at Domain 7, but when Endeavor built Domain 8 last year Amazon leased 170,730 square feet - floors 5 through 9 - in that building and gave back the 75,000 square feet at Domain 7. Amazon also leases that 850,000 square foot distribution center in San Marcos, which is considered part of the Austin MSA but obviously isn't part of the City of Austin.

Facebook leased floors 10 through 12 in Domain 8 for 102,000 square feet. That's in addition to their downtown 230,000 square feet of space at Third & Shoal.

[emathias]

Originally Posted by clubtokyo

From the Boston sub:

Aaron Pressman - January 11, 2018 - MSN Money http://www.msn.com/en-us/money/compa...z&ocid=U453DHP

Amazon is in talks to lease 500,000 square feet of offices in Boston’s Fort Point Channel neighborhood, a hot destination for tech companies, with an option to double the amount of space also being discussed, the Boston Globe reported Thursday. The search started before Amazon publicly disclosed its HQ2 search, the paper said.

That sounds a lot like the first stage of the plan Amazon laid out for HQ2. Though the second headquarters is ultimately projected to house 50,000 workers in a $5 billion, 8-million square foot campus by 2027, Amazon said the first phase of the project would be to open about 500,000 square feet of space in 2019 in the new city...


How much square feet of office space does Amazon currently have in the Austin area?

This is super-old news, and has repeatedly been shown to have nothing to do with HQ2. Which anyone who has actually been paying attention to the HQ2 process already knows.

[clubtokyo]

Originally Posted by emathias

This is super-old news, and has repeatedly been shown to have nothing to do with HQ2. Which anyone who has actually been paying attention to the HQ2 process already knows.

Totally agree its old and has nothing to do with HQ2, I just found it interesting and was curious how much current sqft space Amazon had in Austin for comparison.

[skyscraperpage17]

Originally Posted by eskimo33

Just to throw another rumor on the (giant) pile that we already have. My Aunt is a Senior VP at Microsoft in Seattle (who moved from Austin about three years ago), she was talking to one of her counterparts at Amazon who knows that she used to live in Austin. My Aunt got the feeling (from the Amazon employee) that Amazon's executive staff is pushing for H2 to be located in Boston. Who knows if this is true? I do not, but we can all guess that that Boston might be high on the list.

Bloomberg reported that months ago.

[GoldenBoot]

Austin is not getting HQ2! This city's staff and leadership is too stupid and short sighted to see the long term benefits of "fighting" for and landing this project. They cannot see beyond next week, thus, will not do anything in an attempt to land HQ2!

[The ATX]

Originally Posted by GoldenBoot

Austin is not getting HQ2! This city's staff and leadership is too stupid and short sighted to see the long term benefits of "fighting" for and landing this project. They cannot see beyond next week, thus, will not do anything in an attempt to land HQ2!

Yup. The fact that the HQ2 team visited Austin without talking to the mayor says a lot.

[The ATX]

Originally Posted by loonytoony

What's with the sudden influx of out of city trolls.. Perhaps SXSW, or did we touch a nerve somewhere..?

Those keeping up with the main HQ2 thread in City Discussions will know that overly enthusiastic Chicago and Atlanta boosters have taken control of that thread. They are searching SSP for HQ2 posts about their cities in other threads. Hence the recent visits from Atlanta and Chicago posters. Some posts have been deleted in case anyone is wondering about it.

[Novacek]

Originally Posted by The ATX

Yup. The fact that the HQ2 team visited Austin without talking to the mayor says a lot.

I wouldn't be too sure of that.

Yes, it's been reported that way, but in the same story it stated that Amazon met with "leaders in Austin ".

http://www.kvue.com/article/news/local/a...arch-texas-gov-abbott-says/269-526942742

Without an actual quote from the Mayor's office, it's really hard to tell if it didn't happen or if Adler is just adhering to the non-disclosure agreement.

[N90]

Originally Posted by The ATX

Those keeping up with the main HQ2 thread in City Discussions will know that overly enthusiastic Chicago and Atlanta boosters have taken control of that thread. They are searching SSP for HQ2 posts about their cities in other threads. Hence the recent visits from Atlanta and Chicago posters. Some posts have been deleted in case anyone is wondering about it.

There's an Atlanta poster that literally responds to every post in the main HQ2 thread. He acts like its his job to respond to everything like he's Amazon's spokesman. He's even shown up in this thread.

Can you say desperate and thirsty much?

[MichaelB]

Interesting to see the push back now in Atlanta against this project.
Anyone here have concerns about a negative impact on the area?
I will say I'm always concerned when one employer holds too much weight in a community.
EX: UT... seems just get whatever they want and do what they want.
DELL: not so much now, but 20 Years ago, if Dell had a bad year.... we all had a bad year.

Thoughts? ( Civil thoughts......)

[Novacek]

Originally Posted by MichaelB

EX: UT... seems just get whatever they want and do what they want.

In the case of UT, that's mostly because they're a state entity, and exempt from many local regulations (e.g. zoning).