Amazon HQ2 thread - Page 102

bnk · #**2021** Posted **Jan 22, 2018, 5:14 PM**

No surprises here, and only one of the three has a chance.

https://www.geekwire.com/2018/trulia-picks-3-cities-amazon-hq2-based-housing-affordability/

Trulia picks 3 cities for Amazon HQ2, based on housing affordability data
by Monica Nickelsburg on January 21, 2018 at 11:20 am

Still, Amazon’s experience in Seattle and desire to attract top talent could make housing affordability a factor as the company decides which where it will locate HQ2, the $5 billion second headquarters announced last Fall. If Amazon is looking closely at housing costs, Chicago, Pittsburgh, and Columbus are the best bets, according to a new analysis from Trulia.

...

LouisVanDerWright · #**2022** Posted **Jan 22, 2018, 5:16 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vlajos

It's being reported that Maryland is offering $5 Billion in incentives.

http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/2...p-for-amazon-bidding-starts-at-5-billion

Just what Amazon wants, highest and best offers please by close of business Friday...

Would be interesting to see all the first round proposals and then what each area did to up their ante after this is all done.

bnk · #**2023** Posted **Jan 22, 2018, 5:34 PM**

http://www.cnn.com/2018/01/20/opinions/a...rbing-richard-florida-opinion/index.html

The disturbing part about Amazon's HQ2 competition

Richard Florida
(CNN)Amazon's short list of contenders for its much ballyhooed HQ2 reads like a who's who of the most economically vibrant and dynamic cities in North America.
Of the 20 cities still being considered, seven are located in the Boston-New York-Washington corridor, with two in New York and three in the DC metro area. The entire list of 20, which includes superstar cities like LA, Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia and Toronto; emerging powerhouses like Miami, Atlanta, Nashville, Dallas and Denver; and smaller metros like Austin, Pittsburgh, Columbus, Indianapolis and the North Carolina Research Triangle, consists almost entirely of the winners of our "winner-take-all" urban system.

...

My own sense is that about five of the 20 cities -- large places with great universities and global gateway airports -- are really serious contenders for HQ2.

...

Right behind New York and DC, I'd place Boston, Chicago, and Toronto. As the home of Harvard and MIT, Boston is a considerable talent magnet. Chicago is the nation's third largest metro, behind New York and LA, and a great headquarters city in its own right. The city was once home to Sears -- the Amazon of its day and a company that has long fascinated Bezos.

...

But, there's one part of Amazon's HQ2 competition that is deeply disturbing -- pitting city against city in a wasteful and economically unproductive bidding war for tax and other incentives. As one of the world's most valuable companies, Amazon does not need -- and should not be going after -- taxpayer dollars that could be better used on schools, parks, transit, housing or other much needed public goods.

...

Indeed, many of the leading shortlist cities are led by progressive mayors, including some with national political ambitions like Eric Garcetti in LA and Bill de Blasio in New York, as well as Bill Peduto in Pittsburgh, Muriel Bowser in DC, Rahm Emmanuel in Chicago and Ras Baraka in Newark. The truly progressive thing to do is to forge a pact to not give Amazon a penny in tax incentives or other handouts, thereby forcing the company to make its decision based on merit.
That would be something that would truly benefit the winning city -- and the rest of us as well.

the urban politician · #**2024** Posted **Jan 22, 2018, 5:41 PM**

This kind of crap only reinforces that nonsense that politicians have to do something to bring jobs to their cities. They continue to run their campaigns on this accepted notion, and in doing so get a mandate to impose more and more laws on the public and to fool around more and more with the public’s money.

....But the reality is, and the message they aren’t getting because of big displays like the HQ competition is....businesses and job growth would be better off if politicians actually just did less. Get out of the way. Be less proactive. Shrink!

Bad bad for our country...

bnk · #**2025** Posted **Jan 22, 2018, 7:25 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by pilarscousinnoah

Amazon is looking for the same level (or better) of urban scale, creative friction, and concentration of activity that exists in Seattle. It has to be a city that can not only absorb but also support an HQ2 both now and going forward; the city has to have an environment that is ALREADY conducive to an HQ2. It purposely chose to be (and grow) in downtown Seattle rather than the suburbs and is still growing. It is the reason for the construction of a new 850' skyscraper, sped-up by a brand-new technology of concrete-filled structural steel instead of concrete-and-rebar. This is not a company that publicly wants to be in a suburban setting.

It should be noted that Amazon was born from the same region that has given us Microsoft, Nintendo of America, Boeing, Starbucks, COSTCO, Nordstrom, Expedia, T-Mobile, and many other game-changing, technology-leading and trend-setting brands.

Just by jobs and population alone, and ignoring taxes, commuting habits, education, land availability, airports, recreational amenities, politics, timezones, etc, we arrive at which cities (downtowns) have this type of scale for HQ2 in the US. Toronto would of course sit somewhere near Chicago and NYC.

Here are links to 2 data sources (Demographia & Claritas) on where the biggest employment centers (and commuting statistics) are in the country, as well as a ranking of the biggest 25 city centers.

United States Central Business Districts (Downtowns)

http://demographia.com/db-cbd2000.pdf

Table 10 ranks the largest downtowns in the US by number of jobs and Seattle is #9; Table 13 is also interesting as it catalogs other significant employment centers in the country.

1 NYC
2 Chicago
3 DC
4 SF
5 Boston
6 Philly
7 Atlanta
8 Houston
9 Seattle

Of the HQ2 20, that leaves:

NYC
Chicago
DC
Boston
Philly
Atlanta

Top 25 Largest U.S. Metro Areas: One-Mile Radius Statistics

http://www.godowntownbaltimore.com/library/docs/2017%20SODT.pdf (see page marked "1") (Claritas)

Seattle is #6 by both number of residents and jobs; very notably the only cities by Employment that rank above Seattle on this list are all in the HQ2 20:

Of the largest by Employment:

1 NYC
2 Chicago
3 DC
4 Boston
5 Philly
6 Seattle

Of the largest by Population:

1 NYC
2 SF
3 Chicago
4 Philly
5 LA
6 Seattle

The only that appear above Seattle on BOTH categories that are in HQ2 20 are:

NYC
Chicago
Philly

Boeing chose Chicago.

...

Nexis4Jersey · #**2026** Posted **Jan 22, 2018, 9:59 PM**

As much as I want Newark to win the lack of Rail transit Expansions has left the city grid locked for a few hrs during the rush. 50,000 jobs downtown will only make things worse unless the lack of Rail transit between Newark and Paterson / Elizabeth and points Northwest is addressed. We have a state plan that addressed many of those issues with subway and LRT expansions but the Newark Portion was shelved 15 years ago in favor of Hudson County... None of the politicos in Newark or NJ have addressed this...but it will cripple the city and neighboring towns...

pico44 · #**2027** Posted **Jan 22, 2018, 10:11 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by the urban politician

This kind of crap only reinforces that nonsense that politicians have to do something to bring jobs to their cities. They continue to run their campaigns on this accepted notion, and in doing so get a mandate to impose more and more laws on the public and to fool around more and more with the public’s money.

....But the reality is, and the message they aren’t getting because of big displays like the HQ competition is....businesses and job growth would be better off if politicians actually just did less. Get out of the way. Be less proactive. Shrink!

Bad bad for our country...

I agree with this.

Vlajos · #**2028** Posted **Jan 22, 2018, 10:15 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by emathias

My brother lives in Seattle and uses it all the time - for Christmas we even got our prime rib from them.

How much did they charge? We get an amazing dry aged rib roast from Gene's in Lincoln Square every year.

Honestly, I try to never use Amazon, still would be happy to have all the new jobs in Chicago though.

Steely Dan · #**2029** Posted **Jan 22, 2018, 10:24 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vlajos

Honestly, I try to never use Amazon

ditto.

my wife leans on amazon pretty heavily during Xmas shopping season. since she takes the lead on that iniative, i can't really say much to her about that.

but well over 95% of our day-to-day household purchases are still made at a brick and mortar store because i'm an old fashioned gen-Xer and i like it that way.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vlajos

still would be happy to have all the new jobs in Chicago though.

ditto.

not because i really want HQ2 in chicago, but moreso because i don't want anyone else to get it.

in our relative zero-sum world, another city's gain is chicago's loss, and losing sucks.

JManc · #**2030** Posted **Jan 22, 2018, 10:37 PM**

I must be one of those hip gen-Xer's...I've been using Amazon since the late 90's (wish I bought their stock back then too) as well as other online retailers from the early days.

Steely Dan · #**2031** Posted **Jan 22, 2018, 10:41 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by JManc

as well as other online retailers

i do buy bike shit online from nashbar, performance, and bike tires direct, so i'm not wholly anti-online retail, i just try to avoid amazon because it's gotten scary big.

Vlajos · #**2032** Posted **Jan 22, 2018, 10:43 PM**

I'm a gen xer and I'm definitely not hip. I avoid online shopping as much as possible.

skyscraperpage17 · #**2033** Posted **Jan 22, 2018, 11:22 PM**

I'm just going to leave this here. It pretty well sums up why cities and states are bending over backwards for Amazon HQ2.

pj3000 · #**2034** Posted **Jan 22, 2018, 11:48 PM**

GenX-er here as well. I buy stuff from Amazon maybe 4-5 times per year. I prefer to go to stores because I get to see chicks.

SteveD · #**2035** Posted **Jan 22, 2018, 11:50 PM**

Baby boomer. Shop almost exclusively online these days, with the notable exception of groceries. A lot of Amazon, but also things like Groupon.

chris08876 · #**2036** Posted **Jan 23, 2018, 1:00 AM**

Miami’s Offer To Amazon: A City Within A City

Quote:

This is one of the proposals sent to Amazon as part of Miami’s bid package.

Amazon is being offered a combination of the Miami Innovation District and the adjacent Miami Worldcenter as a single supersite for their HQ2 campus, TNM has learned.

The Innovation District/Worldcenter site is one of eight sites offered to Amazon in the Miami area, including five in Miami-Dade and three in Miami city limits (lawyers for the Beacon Council have blocked our attempts to obtain the full proposal).

It offers intense zoning density, enough to allow employees to not only work but also to live on or near campus. In total, nearly 23 million square feet of space is planned between the two developments, including office, residential, retail and hotel – creating a live, work, and play environment.

Since the property is within Overtown Community Redevelopment Area boundaries, the sites would be eligible for Tax Increment Financing, which could exceed over $1 billion in value.

The campus would be have excellent transit connectivity:

Brightline high speed rail service to Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach (2018), Orlando (2020) and beyond
Tri-Rail to Broward and Palm Beach counties
Metromover throughout Downtown and Brickell
Metrorail, including airport access
I-95
In the immediate surrounding area:

Marriott Marquis Hotel – 1,800 keys, 500,000 square feet convention space (in development)
MiamiCentral – retail, office, residential and transit hub (2018)
Museum Park – Frost Museum of Science, Perez Art Museum
Arsht Center for Performing Arts

======================
Credit: NXT

chris08876 · #**2037** Posted **Jan 23, 2018, 1:06 AM**

^^^^^^

Just a follow up.

That's a nice bid project. Surely put it above many others to reach the top 20.

Shawn · #**2038** Posted **Jan 23, 2018, 1:10 AM**

Xennial here (yes, I am using that word), and we get a regular monthly Amazon order covering lots of FMCG stuff like shaving gel, Gillette razors, toilet paper etc. It's cheaper for us in central Tokyo to buy these through Amazon than to shop locally, and we also don't have to schlep all the stuff back home from the store (we don't own a car).

Because Prime delivers within 2 hours when ordered before 16:00 in my neighborhood, we use Amazon for lots of spur-of-the-moment or last-minute replacement purchases, like for LED light bulbs, or like yesterday afternoon when I ordered a show shovel from work and it was there for me to use when I got home (we had a freak snow storm last night in Tokyo, 8 inches - the most since 1994).

We tried Amazon Fresh just to see what we'd get, and it was a mixed bag. The quality of the produce was high, but the fruits and veggie sizes were average-to-small, and in some instances cost more than shopping locally would have. We didn't order any meats - this is something I'll never trust online procurement for. Overall, not a service we'll use again. Nothing horrible, but we couldn't shake the feeling that the source farmers treat Fresh as a channel to unload stuff that is too small for in-store display.

We don't use Amazon for clothes and rarely use it for white goods. Japanese electronic stores like BIC Camera and Yodobashi Camera price-match Amazon while also giving you 10% back into rewards cards. Amazon needs to get on the rewards points train if they want to truly rule Japan. Otherwise Rakuten will continue to be an equal competitor.

skyscraperpage17 · #**2039** Posted **Jan 23, 2018, 1:17 AM**

RE: Atlanta's traffic

Come to find out, it's not that bad compared to other comparable metro, despite what has become a common assumption...

https://static.tti.tamu.edu/tti.tamu.edu/documents/ums/congestion-data/national/national-table2.pdf

chris08876 · #**2040** Posted **Jan 23, 2018, 3:11 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nexis4Jersey

As much as I want Newark to win the lack of Rail transit Expansions has left the city grid locked for a few hrs during the rush. 50,000 jobs downtown will only make things worse unless the lack of Rail transit between Newark and Paterson / Elizabeth and points Northwest is addressed. We have a state plan that addressed many of those issues with subway and LRT expansions but the Newark Portion was shelved 15 years ago in favor of Hudson County... None of the politicos in Newark or NJ have addressed this...but it will cripple the city and neighboring towns...

That's a good point. DT Newark is usually gridlocked during rush hour. Broad street alone and along McCarther highway 0730 onward up to 0900 is just jammed.

I'd hope that with the high paying jobs, it would spur a nice rental/condo boom for the city. Lots of rubbish along Broad Street and the surrounding areas that are ripe for 300-400 ft towers. A flurry of 300-400 foot residential towers would be ideal. Walk-ability is key, and if the right spot is picked, I'd hope for a Seattle style boom for Newark (residential wise) along with the increased likely hood of the business community being interested in Newark. Once a few big players hit up a CBD, others tend to follow.

Transit definitely needs an expansion. The whole region really, vastly overdue.