Quote:
Originally Posted by jubguy3
I don't think Amazon wants to just spread office buildings around the city. Even the two empty parking blocks (400S main, Vivint/Temple) are only 20 acres
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The rfp says parcels don't have to be contiguous with one another, but Amazon would like them to be close. The buildings of their Seattle campus are scattered all over, but are still somewhat close to each other (all well within a mile of each other). Like Old&New demonstrated, 100 acres could be accumulated over time in roughly the same part of town.
The problem lies with whether or not Amazon wants that land up front. If they do, 100 acres is impossible. You would have to get 15-20 landowners involved, maybe more. If they're fine starting with a smaller acreage in an area of town where they could eventually expand to 100 acres, as they have expanded in Seattle over time, then we're probably good, especially considering land is significantly cheaper here than almost any city that could possibly be under consideration. Although I do expect a jump in land value if Amazon did somehow end up choosing Salt Lake, I believe it would remain significantly cheaper than some of the "top cities" under consideration.
If Salt Lake did pitch the 400 S Main site, they would likely get together a few significant landowners in the area (CCRI, SL County, Holdings, Patrinely), sell the ~25 acres of parcels as the perfect location that passes all the requirements with flying colors, and demonstrate that there is plenty of opportunity for expansion to other parcels if they need it.
Fact of the matter is, though, Amazon listed 100 acres as a "priority for consideration", and not a requirement. If Amazon ends up building a downtown campus that is anything like Seattle's, they aren't going to need 100 acres of land for 8,000,000 sq ft of office space. They wouldn't even need 50. Possibly not even 30, if they build to the same heights as their buildings in Seattle. But I'm thinking their new HQ will be quite different from what they've built in Seattle. I'm interested to see what they come up with.