Amazon HQ2 thread

[Pedestrian]

Originally Posted by iheartthed

Citi has been reducing staff there for a while. If this is related then Amazon was looking at LIC for a long time.

I don't think it's unlikely that Amazon pretty much made its decision some time ago and dragged things out to see if there were any really attractive last minute bids or complications with the desired locations.

[the urban politician]

Originally Posted by LosAngelesSportsFan

Netflix just leased 1 million square feet of office space in Hollywood, Amazon has amazon studios as well as so many other offices here, Google and apple have hundreds of thousands of sq ft here, snap does too and on and on and on... All without giving away 2 billion dollars.. some backwater LA is.

Yep.

Really silly, actually, for some hard core east coast boosters to not see the irony of their bragging about this HQ2 thing knowing full well that these 50k jobs (if they even materialize--big if ) are coming from a company on the West Coast. You know, the largest company on the world, born and bred in Seattle, and only now is it opening glorified satellite offices in your cities because you are oh so powerful. Lets just get some perspective and tone down the "we're number 1!" bro-type shenanigans.

[Pedestrian]

Originally Posted by iheartthed

Yeah, Bezos hardly has trouble getting a meeting with whichever powerbroker it is he wants to speak to, anywhere in the world. Almost all of them will hop on a plane to come to him, in Seattle, at the drop of a dime.

Unless said "powerbroker" is a conservative or a Republican which one house of the legislative branch and the executive branch still will be for at least another 2 years. Bezos, being the known "progressive" he is, carries little clout with red office holders at the federal level. They'd probably enjoy snubbing him.

[LA21st]

Originally Posted by Crawford

I don't hear people moving to LA complaining about traffic. I hear people who left LA complaining about traffic. Obviously if an inherent characteristic of a city is super-objectionable, you probably aren't moving there.

In any case, the discussion was around supposed housing burden, and the prime areas of NYC have the lowest housing burden in the city, and lower housing burden than most Rust Belt metros.

Note that it's all people not living in NYC claiming that it's difficult to afford rent in NYC, when actually the cheapest parts of the city have the highest burden. Manhattan has low housing burden, because incomes/wealth are high and most rental housing is non-market.

You haven't met or talked to enough people in LA then. It's quite common to hear LA residents bitch about their commute from time to time. To suggest people who move to LA don't know about the traffic or people not knowing about NYC and Chicago's well known flaws is just weird.

[toddguy]

Well I could see going with NYC(Wall Street/huge talent pool/etc)and DC(Pentagon, Capitol Hill, large workforce, etc)and with both being cities that would be desirable for international workers...but Nashville?

Seems like The East coast was a big winner and a bone(a nice juicy big bone)was thrown to the South, but the Midwest, Rust belt, Great Lakes, Heartland, etc was the big loser. Damn. I never really thought my city had much of a chance, but thought several other cities around here had a better shot at something than Nashville(not an attack really on Nashville btw).

This Nashville news is the disconcerting part to me.

[Pedestrian]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

the largest company on the world, born and bred in Seattle

I'm not going to do the math because it would only be valid for a second or two anyway until the values change, but Reuters says otherwise today:

SAN FRANCISCO/WASHINGTON (Reuters)
With more than 610,000 workers worldwide, Seattle-based Amazon (AMZN) is already one of the biggest employers in the United States and the world's third-most valuable company, behind Apple Inc and Microsoft Corp .
Still, it faces fierce competition for talent with Alphabet Inc's Google and other companies, which routinely offer free food and other perks in sunny California, seen by many as a better draw than Amazon's (AMZN) relative frugality in rain-plagued Seattle.

https://www.fidelity.com/news/article/top-news/201811131004RTRSNEWSCOMBINED_KCN1NI1UK-OUSBS_1

I also enjoyed the "frugality" accusation and "rain-plagued" dig.

PS: You can't see the sun in CA today for the smoke, though.

[LA21st]

Originally Posted by JoeMusashi

You guys are crazy thinking this would be built anywhere else besides DC and NYC. Local politics and mass transit mean little when compared to international/national political power. San Francisco, Seattle, Chicago, LA, Atlanta....all are backwaters or well, lesser swamps than the ultimate ones out East.

Bezos wants his workers and executives to intermingle and become part of the Washington Establishment. You see this all the time in Washington with powerful people married to each other and using that influence in politics, business, media, military, big government,etc.

Crazy how people are worked up about a real estate developer but comfortable with a guy who controls the internet, commerce, and is allies with those who control information, communications, military, and every other aspect of 21st century life. Whoever called Bezos an "ubermensch", I like that. DC is a power move and I bet they expand more there in the future.

calling LA a backwater. Sure, buddy. LA has Amazon's growing entertainment divison anyway. If NYC was that important, Amazon woudl've put that part there instead.

Chicago, San Francisco aren't backwaters either. That's a insecure take.

[Pedestrian]

Originally Posted by JoeMusashi

San Francisco, Seattle, Chicago, LA, Atlanta....all are backwaters or well, lesser swamps than the ultimate ones out East.

Note the dateline for most stories about tech including this one. Hint: It's not "out East". There are all kinds of power. NY and DC dominate some but not the tech industry and NY at least shares power in entertainment with LA.

[skyscraperpage17]

Originally Posted by toddguy

Well I could see going with NYC(Wall Street/huge talent pool/etc)and DC(Pentagon, Capitol Hill, large workforce, etc)and with both being cities that would be desirable for international workers...but Nashville?

Seems like The East coast was a big winner and a bone(a nice juicy big bone)was thrown to the South, but the Midwest, Rust belt, Great Lakes, Heartland, etc was the big loser. Damn. I never really thought my city had much of a chance, but thought several other cities around here had a better shot at something than Nashville(not an attack really on Nashville btw).

This Nashville news is the disconcerting part to me.

Why?

On its face, Nashville seems odd, but in reality it was always a dark horse.

It's a rapidly growing place that Amazon can morph into its own as it matures into a major city. It's also a place that millennials adore due to its party-like culture and will have no problem attracting talent.

Not to mention, it is a location that is central to the logistics hubs of Atlanta, Louisville and Memphis, and it's in a reasonable day drive distance to numerous other "big" cities.

[LA21st]

Originally Posted by Pedestrian

Note the dateline for most stories about tech including this one. Hint: It's not "out East". There are all kinds of power. NY and DC dominate some but not the tech industry and NY at least shares power in entertainment with LA.

Eh, the enterianment share is heavily dominated by LA. it's not even close. All this new technology has improved LA's standing actually. But anyway..

[toddguy]

Originally Posted by skyscraperpage17

Why?

On its face, Nashville seems odd, but in reality it was always a dark horse.

It's a rapidly growing place that Amazon can morph into its own as it matures into a major city. It's also a place that millennials adore due to its party-like culture and will have no problem attracting talent.

Not to mention, it is a location that is central to the logistics hubs of Atlanta, Louisville and Atlanta, and it's in a reasonable day drive distance to numerous other "big" cities.

In the context that the Midwest is losing out to places like Nashville as well as to the obvious (DC, NYC, Seattle, etc). The emergence of Nashville just shows how the competition is getting even tougher. And yeah, it was a dark horse but it seemed to pop up here at the last minute out of nowhere and is very different than the other two main choices. I would have thought Atlanta itself more likely than Nashville. It would be interesting to get a breakdown from Amazon on why Nashville was specifically chosen and why other cities (like Atlanta and also the rest of the cities) were not.

*Did you have a third city in mind besides the second Atlanta you listed?-never mind saw that you fixed that.

Those 5,000 high paying jobs are a big deal for one of the smaller metros in the race. It just seems like the winners just keep winning and the rest really have to do everything they can to try and keep up.

[KB0679]

Originally Posted by JMKeynes

Atlanta’s appeal is diminishing due to traffic. People want to live in Alpharetta, Roswell, etc., and yet it’s impossible to commute to downtown from there.

Nashville and Charlotte are the new Atlantas. In time though, they will face the same problems of traffic, since, like Atl., they don’t have mass transit.

Traffic has been bad in Atlanta for a long time now. It's not so much that Atlanta's appeal is diminishing as it is other cities in the region are on the come-up in a big way.

People want to live in northern suburbs but they also want to live in the urban core, especially Midtown--which is where you even see companies relocating to from the suburbs. Norfolk Southern plans to build their new corporate headquarters building there.

Oh and Charlotte has mass transit.

[skyscraperpage17]

Originally Posted by toddguy

In the context that the Midwest is losing out to places like Nashville as well as to the obvious (DC, NYC, Seattle, etc). The emergence of Nashville just shows how the competition is getting even tougher. And yeah, it was a dark horse but it seemed to pop up here at the last minute out of nowhere and is very different than the other two main choices. I would have thought Atlanta itself more likely than Nashville. It would be interesting to get a breakdown from Amazon on why Nashville was specifically chosen and why other cities (like Atlanta and also the rest of the cities) were not.

*Did you have a third city in mind besides the second Atlanta you listed?-never mind saw that you fixed that.

HA! You're quick. You quoted me before I was able to edit my post.

I mean to say Memphis (FedEx).

[CastleScott]

PS: You can't see the sun in CA today for the smoke, though.

Amen bro-its been REALLY bad here in Sacramento (the other day visibility was down to a quarter mile).

Back to Amazon NY and DC can have em-it would just add more to housing inflation and such here besides as mentioned earlier Cali has lots of economic stuff going on-we're doing just fine.

[skyscraperpage17]

Originally Posted by KB0679

Traffic has been bad in Atlanta for a long time now. It's not so much that Atlanta's appeal is diminishing as it is other cities in the region are on the come-up in a big way.

People want to live in northern suburbs but they also want to live in the urban core, especially Midtown--which is where you even see companies relocating to from the suburbs. Norfolk Southern plans to build their new corporate headquarters building there.

Oh and Charlotte has mass transit.

Atlanta has plenty of room to grow in other directions besides northward. For example, south of the city, there's places like Peachtree City, Tyrone, and Newnan, which offer a QOL on par with many of the northern suburbs.

People sleep on them though all of the high-paying corporate jobs are mainly north of the city.

[The North One]

Originally Posted by LA21st

calling LA a backwater. Sure, buddy. LA has Amazon's growing entertainment divison anyway. If NYC was that important, Amazon woudl've put that part there instead.

Chicago, San Francisco aren't backwaters either. That's a insecure take.

Everything is a "backwater" it's just a generic insult thrown at a place somebody doesn't like.

[LA21st]

Originally Posted by The North One

Everything is a "backwater" it's just a generic insult thrown at a place somebody doesn't like.

I've never heard LA called a backwater before.

I guess that's the east coast insecurity coming back.

I don't understand how the Amazon move has brought out all these NYC/DC bragging stuff. Would Chicagoans do the same? I doubt it

[iheartthed]

Originally Posted by Pedestrian

Unless said "powerbroker" is a conservative or a Republican which one house of the legislative branch and the executive branch still will be for at least another 2 years. Bezos, being the known "progressive" he is, carries little clout with red office holders at the federal level. They'd probably enjoy snubbing him.

Bezos donates to Republicans and Democrats. There are few powerbrokers who won't fall over themselves to meet with Bezos, if he requested. Even Trump would meet with him if Bezos wanted to.

[chris08876]

Amazon to lease 1M sf in Savanna’s One Court Square for HQ2

Amazon is set to take about 1 million square feet of space at Savanna’s One Court Square office tower when it moves to Long Island City.

The real estate company announced in a release that it entered a letter of intent for the lease.

“We’re thrilled that Amazon selected One Court Square as a critical component of its HQ2 plans for Long Island City,” Savanna managing partner Nicholas Bienstock said in a statement.

Reports that the tech giant planned to split its long-heralded second headquarters between Long Island City and Crystal City, Virginia circled last week, and Amazon confirmed the news on Tuesday. The company will also open a new regional hub in Nashville.

Sources previously told The Real Deal that Amazon would likely focus on Court Square and the Factory District if it moved to Long Island City. One Court Square was widely seen as a prime fit based on Citigroup’s plans to vacate 1 million square feet in the building come 2020 when its lease expires.

Other potential sites included Savanna’s Falchi Building and Tishman Speyer’s JACX, among others.

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TRD

[toddguy]

Originally Posted by chris08876

Amazon to lease 1M sf in Savanna’s One Court Square for HQ2


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TRD

So how many people will Amazon put into 1 million square feet? 5,000...7,000???