PHILADELPHIA | Schuylkill Yards Future Phases | 1,095 - 375 FT | 70 - 28 FLOORS

[Jayfar]

Unofficially official; announcement coming as soon as Tuesday.

Amazon Picks New York City, Northern Virginia for Its HQ2 Locations | WSJ

By Laura Stevens, Keiko Morris and Katie Honan
Updated Nov. 12, 2018 11:17 p.m. ET

New York City and Northern Virginia will be the homes for Amazon.com Inc.’s AMZN -4.41% second and third headquarters, according to people familiar with the matter, ending a more than yearlong public contest that started with 238 candidates and ended with a surprise split of its so-called HQ2.

The imminent announcement is expected as soon as Tuesday, according to the people. Other cities may also receive major sites, some of the people said.

Amazon is dividing the second headquarters evenly between New York’s Long Island City and Arlington County’s Crystal City neighborhoods, which are both located directly across from the major city centers. The company plans to evenly split the offices with as many as 25,000 employees.

The decision effectively gives Amazon a major presence in three coastal hubs that politically lean left, at a time when tech companies are under scrutiny for their perceived elitism and liberal social views.

Amazon declined to comment.

[snip]

[Redddog]

Originally Posted by Jayfar

Unofficially official; announcement coming as soon as Tuesday.

Amazon Picks New York City, Northern Virginia for Its HQ2 Locations | WSJ

By Laura Stevens, Keiko Morris and Katie Honan
Updated Nov. 12, 2018 11:17 p.m. ET

New York City and Northern Virginia will be the homes for Amazon.com Inc.’s AMZN -4.41% second and third headquarters, according to people familiar with the matter, ending a more than yearlong public contest that started with 238 candidates and ended with a surprise split of its so-called HQ2.

The imminent announcement is expected as soon as Tuesday, according to the people. Other cities may also receive major sites, some of the people said.

Amazon is dividing the second headquarters evenly between New York’s Long Island City and Arlington County’s Crystal City neighborhoods, which are both located directly across from the major city centers. The company plans to evenly split the offices with as many as 25,000 employees.

The decision effectively gives Amazon a major presence in three coastal hubs that politically lean left, at a time when tech companies are under scrutiny for their perceived elitism and liberal social views.

Amazon declined to comment.

[snip]

Screw Amazon.

[Nova08]

Yea, I am not holding my breath. I suspect Boston, Austin, Chicago, Dallas could get those "significant sites."

[Boku]

Aaaaaand Nashville is getting 5,000 jobs.

https://www.streetinsider.com/General+Ne...nia%2C+Nashville%3A+source/14819263.html

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Amazon.com Inc is announcing on Tuesday a major investment in Nashville, Tennessee along with confirming it is adding two new headquarters in New York and northern Virginia, a person briefed on the matter said.

Nashville will be home to Amazon's new East Coast hub of operations, adding 5,000 new corporate jobs, the source said. Press events are planned to announce the investments in all three locations, the official said.

[duffey]

good riddance. this is a blessing for philadelphia. amazon can go to hell.

[McBane]

For christ's sake, Philly's site was a train ride away from both of the selected sites. The optics look awful that Philadelphia was literally passed over. Perhaps there's a consolation prize - a satellite office allowing employees quick access to either the NY or VA offices.

I'm also hoping that Amazon will disclose evaluation materials with each finalist. I'd love to have city leaders understand why Philadelphia lost so they can use those lessons. But doubtful. They were pulling out all the stops, aiming for a longshot grand slam; but I'd like to see the city cut taxes and ease regulations to win the small battles, like keeping existing firms in the city and attracting new, growing businesses. Sure, these "wins" don't make major headlines but 7 base hits produce the the same number of runs as that elusive grand slam. Na-ma-mean?

[iamrobk]

The Nashville thing kinda stings the most to me tbh.

[Boku]

Originally Posted by McBane

For christ's sake, Philly's site was a train ride away from both of the selected sites. The optics look awful that Philadelphia was literally passed over. Perhaps there's a consolation prize - a satellite office allowing employees quick access to either the NY or VA offices.

I don't get this. I think the general consensus is "this whole thing was a sham from the beginning because of course they would go with DC and New York." I can't imagine anyone else in the country is angry at their city for not being picked; they're pissed at Amazon for the dog and pony show that was obviously just to extract tax breaks from the places they were going to choose all along.

[Tlphila]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/...nequality-630am-1%3Ahomepage%2Fstory-ans

Reading this article made me think that this might be a blessing in disguise. As this move will only make NY and DC more expensive, Philadelphia will be in a great position to pick off some talented people who are fed up with the cost of living. We will not grow due to big corporations moving here (who really wants this anyway as most of these mega companies are nothing but exploiters and have zero loyalty to anyone or any place). If we can get some young talent to move and invest here, we will overtime grow our economy in a much healthier fashion.

[Skintreesnail]

I guess this is official:
https://www.amazon.jobs/en/locations/nashville-area-tn

Amazon is excited to announce that we have selected New York City and Arlington, Virginia as the locations for our new headquarters. Amazon will invest $5 billion and create more than 50,000 jobs across the two new headquarters locations, with more than 25,000 employees each in New York City and Arlington.

The new locations will join Amazon Seattle as the company’s three headquarters in North America. In addition, Amazon announced that it has selected Nashville for a new Center of Excellence for its Operations business, which is responsible for the company’s customer fulfillment, transportation, supply chain, and other similar activities. The Operations Center of Excellence in Nashville will create more than 5,000 jobs.

Hiring at the new headquarters locations will begin in 2019.

Here's a more detailed blog post:
https://blog.aboutamazon.com/company-new...d-northern-virginia-for-new-headquarters

[Milksteak]

Originally Posted by iamrobk

The Nashville thing kinda stings the most to me tbh.

Yup.

[Skintreesnail]

Originally Posted by iamrobk

The Nashville thing kinda stings the most to me tbh.

It bothered me at first, but it's doesn't sound like they'll be getting the tech jobs that NYC and DC will. I'm more bothered by the fact we're an hour or 2 from NYC and DC. Now I feel like it's just going to be a bigger "brain drain", since graduates get their pick of 50K jobs to the south or north of us over the next decade or so. Maybe Philly will attract some related start-up activity though.

[McBane]

Originally Posted by Boku

I don't get this. I think the general consensus is "this whole thing was a sham from the beginning because of course they would go with DC and New York." I can't imagine anyone else in the country is angry at their city for not being picked; they're pissed at Amazon for the dog and pony show that was obviously just to extract tax breaks from the places they were going to choose all along.

What I meant is that Amazon's selection reinforces Philadelphia's image as the step-sibling city, overshadowed by our powerful neighbors, NYC to the north and DC to the south. I guess our story - that we're close to both seats of power - didn't matter.

[Chubbs Peterson]

Damn, can't believe Bensalem lost.

[Skintreesnail]

Hey, what ever happened with the Apple "hq2" thing? Did they already decide?

[mcgrath618]

Originally Posted by Chubbs Peterson

Damn, can't believe Bensalem lost.

Easily the funniest response to this debacle.

[Urbanthusiat]

Originally Posted by Skintreesnail

Hey, what ever happened with the Apple "hq2" thing? Did they already decide?

I’ve heard NoVA for them as well.

[mcgrath618]

Originally Posted by Urbanthusiat

I’ve heard NoVA for them as well.

I’ve also heard that we might be a good candidate. They seem to like the Navy Yards and university city Square.

[UrbanRevival]

Only Philadelphians would turn this into a scathing rebuke of themselves. This is nothing of the sort. As is being reported, this charade was likely already decided from the beginning, and even more competitive cities than Philadelphia didn't have much of a chance.

At the end of the day, Bezos is clearly a strict and highly-calculating businessman, who cares only about bottom line numbers with as little risk as possible; as such, he went with the two of "safest" options in terms of top talent attraction, and arguably the most predictable and least visionary. It's a complete missed opportunity to for a major national corporation to have led the way on leveling the playing field (at least a little) and creating much more of a social impact.

All that being said, chill out with the self-deprecation! I think the threshold question should be: had Amazon chosen Philadelphia, would it have found the same success as it supposedly will in LIC and Crystal City? I think the unequivocal answer is yes, it would have, because people have grown oblivious to the fact that the number one talent attractor to any city is always going to be JOBS, and not the city itself.

And Philadelphia, and any city not named DC or NYC, can't be held responsible when CEOs refuse to even consider such opportunities for success in a city that actually has the cultural/"sense of place" attributes that actually make cities attractive, especially when the deck is stacked.

Trying to win the dog-and-pony show of whoring yourself out to corporations in an effort to win re-located or national-level jobs "sweepstakes" is a losing battle. Philly is MUCH better off with nurturing and retaining companies that have already chosen to start here, not only because it's more financially prudent and effective economic development, but because they're already fully aware of (and receptive to) the positives of being in Philadelphia.

[mcgrath618]

Originally Posted by urbanrevival

only philadelphians would turn this into a scathing rebuke of themselves. This is nothing of the sort. As is being reported, this charade was likely already decided from the beginning, and even more competitive cities than philadelphia didn't have much of a chance.

At the end of the day, bezos is clearly a strict and highly-calculating businessman, who cares only about bottom line numbers with as little risk as possible; as such, he went with the two of "safest" options in terms of top talent attraction, and arguably the most predictable and least visionary. It's a complete missed opportunity to for a major national corporation to have led the way on leveling the playing field (at least a little) and creating much more of a social impact.

All that being said, chill out with the self-deprecation! I think the threshold question should be: Had amazon chosen philadelphia, would it have found the same success as it supposedly will in lic and crystal city? I think the unequivocal answer is yes, it would have, because people have grown oblivious to the fact that the number one talent attractor to any city is always going to be jobs, and not the city itself.

And philadelphia, and any city not named dc or nyc, can't be held responsible when ceos refuse to even consider such opportunities for success in a city that actually has the cultural/"sense of place" attributes that actually make cities attractive, especially when the deck is stacked.

Trying to win the dog-and-pony show of whoring yourself out to corporations in an effort to win re-located or national-level jobs "sweepstakes" is a losing battle. Philly is much better off with nurturing and retaining companies that have already chosen to start here, not only because it's more financially prudent and effective economic development, but because they're already fully aware of (and receptive to) the positives of being in philadelphia.

+1