Amazon HQ2 thread

[skyscraperpage17]

It's funny how these things cycle though.

I remenber when people were saying Austin was a "shoe in" simply because Amazon owns Whole Foods.

[twister244]

This thread is hilarious......

As I stated several pages ago NONE of you really knows exactly what's going through the minds at Amazon. We can sit here and speculate all day what we think they weight heavily, etc, but at the end of the day NONE of us know where this thing is going......

Just because the media keep spewing out articles daily promoting DC as the front runner, doesn't mean they are. This is especially ridiculous when there has been no new news on the DC/HQ2 front since the list was narrowed down to 20 in January and we found out when the team started visiting cities.

If you want to look at which cities they visited first as a potential signal, sure, that might provide a hint... or it might not. If we are going to do that, then Denver would be up on the list since they visited us first before DC/Chicago/Atlanta/Philly.

But for all the reasons one would want to locate here (weather/outdoors/lower taxes/low unemployment/diverse economy/growing tech/etc), we have reasons not to (record low housing inventory/high rents/construction labor shortage/not in EDT/not close to huge numbers of universities).

I was worried about HQ2 while I was a renter earlier this year in Denver. However, now that I own a condo, I don't care as much. Sure, it would be nice for my property value, but Denver will continue to do very well with/without HQ2. We really don't need it at this point.

[Eightball]

DC weather sucks, foh lol

[JManc]

Originally Posted by twister244

This thread is hilarious......

As I stated several pages ago NONE of you really knows exactly what's going through the minds at Amazon. We can sit here and speculate all day what we think they weight heavily, etc, but at the end of the day NONE of us know where this thing is going......

Just because the media keep spewing out articles daily promoting DC as the front runner, doesn't mean they are. This is especially ridiculous when there has been no new news on the DC/HQ2 front since the list was narrowed down to 20 in January and we found out when the team started visiting cities.

If you want to look at which cities they visited first as a potential signal, sure, that might provide a hint... or it might not. If we are going to do that, then Denver would be up on the list since they visited us first before DC/Chicago/Atlanta/Philly.

But for all the reasons one would want to locate here (weather/outdoors/lower taxes/low unemployment/diverse economy/growing tech/etc), we have reasons not to (record low housing inventory/high rents/construction labor shortage/not in EDT/not close to huge numbers of universities).

I was worried about HQ2 while I was a renter earlier this year in Denver. However, now that I own a condo, I don't care as much. Sure, it would be nice for my property value, but Denver will continue to do very well with/without HQ2. We really don't need it at this point.

That's ok. J. Bezos already has a bunker deep underneath DIA and that's where he stashed all the alien bodies. The ones that were Prime members at least.

[Mentallect]

Originally Posted by Crawford

And NoVA is easily the most sprawling, least transit oriented, least progressive part of the region, pretty much trashing all the assumptions in this thread.

I don't disagree with you, though.

Northern Virginia is just as liberal and progressive as DC and MD, probably moreso. Southern Virginia is conservative, but not Northern. Educated millinnials are everywhere in Northern VA, and they are all Democrats.

[Mentallect]

Originally Posted by skyscraperpage17

It's funny how these things cycle though.

I remenber when people were saying Austin was a "shoe in" simply because Amazon owns Whole Foods.

Austin is a great city but in a red state and in not in an eastern time zone. The DC region offers Amazon the one thing which ensures its success: Proximity to lawmakers who want to break it up if they think Amazon is a monopoly. Denver, Boston, NY, Atlanta, etc...none can offer Amazon insulation and the educated base for the STEM jobs Amazon is hiring for. The reason Amazon Web Service is already in Northern Virginia is because the brainpower in the region is unmatched.

[Crawford]

Originally Posted by Mentallect

Northern Virginia is just as liberal and progressive as DC and MD, probably moreso. Southern Virginia is conservative, but not Northern. Educated millinnials are everywhere in Northern VA, and they are all Democrats.

LOL, no. NoVA is definitely more sprawly, less transit oriented, and less progressive than DC and suburban MD.

And NoVA is not "all Democrat" not that has anything to do with the topic. It's much less Dem than DC or suburban MD.

[Crawford]

Originally Posted by Mentallect

Austin is a great city but in a red state and in not in an eastern time zone. The DC region offers Amazon the one thing which ensures its success: Proximity to lawmakers who want to break it up if they think Amazon is a monopoly.

But that has absolutely nothing to do with an alleged "HQ2". Lobbying activities are totally unrelated.

[Mentallect]

Originally Posted by Crawford

LOL, no. NoVA is definitely more sprawly, less transit oriented, and less progressive than DC and suburban MD.

And NoVA is not "all Democrat" not that has anything to do with the topic. It's much less Dem than DC or suburban MD.

Alexandria and Arlington are 1 mile from DC proper, right across the river, and they are very progressive. No MAGA shirts, no NRA shirts, only Obama Biden, Ready for Hillary bumber stickers. Alexandria and Arlington are the cities everyone thinks about when they say Northern Virginia. Reston, McLean Virginia, Loudoun County, VA are further from DC core, and also very liberal, tech centric communities with diverse people and younger median age population. Only the military members in this region are conservative and some defense contractors. 85% of NVA are blue state voters.

[Mentallect]

Originally Posted by Crawford

But that has absolutely nothing to do with an alleged "HQ2". Lobbying activities are totally unrelated.

Bezos, an open liberal, most likely won't place his prize possession in a completely backwards red state like Texas. NC is out as well. Atlanta has a small chance only because it has a great airport and is centrally located and in the eastern time zone. Chicago as a very small chance, very small. Boston does not want Amazon that much, neither does Denver...which was not going to happen no more than LA was happening. Northern Virginia has everything the other top cities have except it is regionally located 1 mile from the White House and has lower taxes than DC and Maryland. Amazon is already expanding its most profitable unit, Amazon Web Services, even as we speak in Northern Virgina.

[LouisVanDerWright]

Originally Posted by chris08876

Could also be DC's proxy to major U.S. cities. BosWash Corridor.

If it winds up there this is a much more likely reason than "political influence". But as others mentioned, Philly is a much more logical choice if locating in the NE corridor is a priority. The question is does Philly have issues with being pro business and the same out of control taxes as Illinois.

Originally Posted by the urban politician

I only think DC will get it because they chose multiple sites around DC. It suggests that they are trying to make it work, so to speak

Why would the three sites in DC count more than the multiple sites they've checked out in other cities? I thought the fairly obvious cause of three DC locations was that they didn't submit a unified bid while other candidates like Chicago/Illinois submitted a single unified bid with multiple options.

Originally Posted by Kenmore

so thirsty^

[iheartthed]

Originally Posted by 10023

Public transportation investment should be directed to those areas where it is needed and used. That can be an upper income area or a lower income area, or both. But when trains in certain areas are jam packed and trains in other areas are half empty, it’s pretty clear where investment needs to go.

The better solution is to encourage people to move to areas that already have the transit capacity to support more riders.

[10023]

Originally Posted by iheartthed

The better solution is to encourage people to move to areas that already have the transit capacity to support more riders.

And then the people in these areas will complain about gentrification. It would take a lot of (luxury condo) construction and rehabilitation of older buildings and replacement of local retail and restaurants to make those areas appealing. And the locals would just fight it.

And people are doing that, but they’re still going to want to live in the city’s nicest, most gentrified neighborhoods. And those neighborhoods need more transit capacity.

The other problem is that too many of Chicago’s transit lines were surrounded by expressways. You’ll never have nice, transit-oriented neighborhoods along most of the South Side red line because of the Dan Ryan.

[iheartthed]

Originally Posted by 10023

And then the people in these areas will complain about gentrification. It would take a lot of (luxury condo) construction and rehabilitation of older buildings and replacement of local retail and restaurants to make those areas appealing. And the locals would just fight it.

And leople are doing that, but they’re still going to want to live in the city’s nicest, most gentrified neighborhoods. And those neighborhoods need more transit capacity.

If large parts of the system are under-utilized then the transit system is not being used efficiently. Apparently something is off in the market if people are not naturally gravitating to places that would make their commute more comfortable. Address that instead of wasting money on adding train lines that aren't needed.

[10023]

Originally Posted by iheartthed

If large parts of the system are under-utilized then the transit system is not being used efficiently. Apparently something is off in the market if people are not naturally gravitating to places that would make their commute more comfortable. Address that instead of wasting money on adding train lines that aren't needed.

People aren’t gravitating to the places where their commutes would be more comfortable, because in many cases pretty much every other aspect of those neighborhoods is bad. The exception being Latino hoods on the West Side like Pilsen, which so far as I understand are ground zero in Chicago’s gentrification battles.

Also, many train lines don’t go through what I would consider urban neighborhoods at all (moreso suburban ones). This station will never be at the center of a thriving urban neighborhood with high rail ridership:

https://goo.gl/maps/JSouWsKjJM32

Anyway, you can add train capacity to nice neighborhoods more easily than you can completely rebuilt and revitalize economically depressed and dangerous ones. More than anything, the North Side needs an east/west line (or two).

[skyscraperpage17]

According to the below article, Columbus has offered $2.6 Billion in incentives to Amazon.

https://www.bna.com/amazon-hq2-tax-n57982092961/

[Hudson11]

Originally Posted by skyscraperpage17

According to the below article, Columbus has offered $2.6 Billion in incentives to Amazon.

https://www.bna.com/amazon-hq2-tax-n57982092961/

as also noted in the article, that's pocket change compared to what they were offered by New Jersey/Newark.
They're eventually going to choose a date to announce their decision, and that decision is going to made the last hour of the day before All the speculation is mostly useless, any of the 20 could land it.

[McBane]

What's the most ridiculous thing I've read on this thread?

a) Amazon will relocate to DC b/c Bezos owns a home there (regardless of the fact that he has an infinite pool of money to buy a home wherever he damn well pleases)

b) Amazon will rule out any locations in conservative states/regions (regardless of local talent, business climate, tax incentives, site specifics, etc. and because Bezos makes all of his business decisions based on his political beliefs)

c) Amazon will choose DC so it can be close to legislators (because they want all HQ2 employees to be able to rub elbows with congressmen; also, Amazon is too cheap to fly/train executives to DC and they don't use DC-based lobbyists)

d) All of the above

[skyscraperpage17]

Originally Posted by McBane

What's the most ridiculous thing I've read on this thread?

a) Amazon will relocate to DC b/c Bezos owns a home there (regardless of the fact that he has an infinite pool of money to buy a home wherever he damn well pleases)

b) Amazon will rule out any locations in conservative states/regions (regardless of local talent, business climate, tax incentives, site specifics, etc.)

c) Amazon will choose DC so it can be close to legislators (because flights/trains to DC are too expensive, Amazon doesn't believe use DC-based lobbyists, and it's important for tech staff to rub shoulders with congressmen)

d) All of the above

The side bar conversation about Chicago that has nothing to do with Amazon HQ2 is pretty ridiculous, but I'm trying to just play it cool.

[JManc]

There was a valid reason this thread was locked several times...people with marginal sense of humors arguing on the internet over pure speculation. Carry on...