Amazon HQ2

[We vs us]

Originally Posted by Maximusx1

1)

Amazon HQ2 + MLS Team + Delta hub and Austin is in another stratosphere of cities in 5 incredible years.

That's the REAL downtown puzzle, IMHO. Well, downtown + ABIA puzzle, I guess.

[We vs us]

Also, an interesting tidbit in an ABJ article about Brandywine:

"Brandywine sells more than 1 million square feet of Austin offices, hopes Amazon will come knocking"

HQ2 ambitions


Separately, Brandywine President and CEO Gerard Sweeney confirmed during the conference call Thursday that the Broadmoor campus his company owns in Northwest Austin was included in the region's bid submitted Oct. 18 for the Amazon HQ2 facility.

The potential economic windfall from such a campus has been capturing headlines across the country — the e-commerce giant wants to build a $5 billion facility at least as large as its Seattle home base that will house up to $50,000 employees.

IBM Corp. is the primary tenant at Broadmoor, at 11501 Burnet Road adjacent to The Domain, but the site is undergoing new master planning and is large enough to support multiple new buildings.

Sweeney called Austin "Silicon Valley East" and commended its "great culture and an amazing can-do attitude," according to a transcript of the earnings call provided by SeekingAlpha. Brandywine sites are also part of HQ2 bids from Philadelphia and Washington, D.C.

"So I think our goal is we are just enthusiastically supporting each city's bid," he said. "And stand kind of at the ready to assist the cities in whatever they need us to do to sell the positive aspects of Amazon making [a] decision to locate [in Austin or Philadelphia] or Washington, D.C.”

https://www.bizjournals.com/austin/news/...lls-more-than-1-million-square-feet.html

[futures]

UGH. The Domain is my least favorite fantasy location for Amazon.


It makes sense in that it's the most greenfield location, but man it's boring, and will not stand out from any other city. I was much more partial to the Statesman or Catalyst sites.

[The ATX]

Originally Posted by futures

UGH. The Domain is my least favorite fantasy location for Amazon.


It makes sense in that it's the most greenfield location, but man it's boring, and will not stand out from any other city. I was much more partial to the Statesman or Catalyst sites.

Broadmoor is just part of the bid. There will be other locations as part of Austin's bid.

[undergroundman]

Like buying a lottery ticket, it's fun to dream, but it ain't gonna happen in Austin. If they wanted everything on their list, they need to look no further than Seattle. They could have just continued to expand where they currently are. They just don't like the hostile local government. And again, the current makeup of the Austin city council is no different than Seattle's. I think they would have a hell of a time getting any kind of a height variance for the Catalyst project. Hell, the State is even having trouble getting cooperation from this petty vindictive council in developing the Capitol Complex Master Plan, something that would be great for the city of Austin.

My best guess is that Amazon either goes to Denver, Jersey City, or Hoboken. They have 7 billion reasons to move right across the river from a vibrant NYC, the mecca for millennials.

[drummer]

Housing costs I think will keep them from the greater NYC area.

[masonh2479]

Originally Posted by drummer

Housing costs I think will keep them from the greater NYC area.

Agreed, I see Amazon going to Atlanta.

[The ATX]

Ever since the HQ2 circus began I've been thinking the top contenders are Atlanta, NoVa, DFW and Boston. My pick for the top choice among those changes, and currently I feel it's a tossup between Atlanta and DFW.
I'm glad the Austin HQ2 thread hasn't turned into a booster shit storm hating on other cities like HQ2 threads in other city sections on the various forums that I check out.

[masonh2479]

Originally Posted by The ATX

Ever since the HQ2 circus began I've been thinking the top contenders are Atlanta, NoVa, DFW and Boston. My pick for the top choice among those changes, and currently I feel it's a tossup between Atlanta and DFW.
I'm glad the Austin HQ2 thread hasn't turned into a booster shit storm hating on other cities like HQ2 threads in other city sections on the various forums that I check out.

This thread can turn into a booster shit storm if you want.

[The ATX]

Originally Posted by masonh2479

This thread can turn into a booster shit storm if you want.

Yes, it could. But I think the majority of the frequent posters are logical and reasonable.

[drummer]

I see DFW or Atlanta for nearly identical reasons. It’ll be interesting to see what happens.

[urbancore]

I honestly think they will choose Austin. I reserve the right to be wrong. But I’ll be surprised if they don’t.

I think it is more about picking a place that their employees will want to live. I’d bet 10% of their Seattle employees would put in for a transfer to cash out” and relo to Austin.

Our town does not have it all, but people love moving here. I know I’m drinking my own coolaid.

[We vs us]

Originally Posted by Dcbrickley

I honestly think they will choose Austin. I reserve the right to be wrong. But I’ll be surprised if they don’t.

I think it is more about picking a place that their employees will want to live. I’d bet 10% of their Seattle employees would put in for a transfer to cash out” and relo to Austin.

Our town does not have it all, but people love moving here. I know I’m drinking my own coolaid.

Yep. All things being equal, culture fit wins.

[The ATX]

We know that Broadmoor was part of Austin's HQ2 bid, and Community Impact says a site in Leander is as well - 103 acres around the commuter rail station. A total of 40 to 50 sites were included in Austin's final proposal with about 12 listed as "first tier" options including the Leander site.

https://communityimpact.com/austin/leand...rea-sites-amazon-bid-city-official-says/

[myBrain]

Originally Posted by We vs us

Yep. All things being equal, culture fit wins.

I work in tech. I am on the older side of being a millennial. I've had account managers from several big silicon valley / SF tech companies, including Google, come out to visit, and have been to other tech cities for conferences and business.

Austin's cultural cache is insane. These people think this city is cooler than it is (and I love Austin). And of course it is better than San Jose and a lot of the suburban areas that many tech companies are actually based in. And I will defend Atlanta and Dallas and others on the list as being more interesting than their reputation, but the fact is, Austin has captured the imagination of this generation in a way that only several significantly larger cities have, and that's why I think we have a chance for this.

[the Genral]

[The ATX]

Originally Posted by myBrain

I work in tech. I am on the older side of being a millennial. I've had account managers from several big silicon valley / SF tech companies, including Google, come out to visit, and have been to other tech cities for conferences and business.

Austin's cultural cache is insane. These people think this city is cooler than it is (and I love Austin). And of course it is better than San Jose and a lot of the suburban areas that many tech companies are actually based in. And I will defend Atlanta and Dallas and others on the list as being more interesting than their reputation, but the fact is, Austin has captured the imagination of this generation in a way that only several significantly larger cities have, and that's why I think we have a chance for this.

Well said. That - along with the WF purchase - are why I consider Austin a dark horse candidate. If this was a major IT, software development, cloud computing campus etc., I would go with Austin. But larger Metros like Atl,
and DFW and their world class airports just seem to be a better fit for major corporate HQs. But of course I'm pulling for Austin.


I can also vouch for Austin's cultural cache across the country and world. I work in the local Tech industry and deal with people from a lot of locations. Austin is very well known and liked in Singapore, all over Europe, California, Boston among other locations.


Amazon's local workforce is growing fast and appears to be around 6.4K. That breaks down as:
San Marcos Fulfillment Center: 3K+
Whole Foods HQ including 6 stores: 2.5K
Amazon offices at the Domain: 900

[mumu]

Originally Posted by The ATX

Well said. That - along with the WF purchase - are why I consider Austin a dark horse candidate. If this was a major IT, software development, cloud computing campus etc., I would go with Austin. But larger Metros like Atl,
and DFW and their world class airports just seem to be a better fit for major corporate HQs. But of course I'm pulling for Austin.
...

I think your thoughts are solid, but on the flip side, looking 10 or 20 years away, Austin is going to have far more gravitas than it has now; it'll be not just the second or third largest tech hub area in the USA but also a major corporate center. Amazon, for better or worse, will have an opportunity to shape Austin more to its liking than larger metros that already have extensive established corporate interests.

Also, I think the airport is a non-issue. Delta is going to make Austin a focus-hub center sooner or later. We're going to get huge terminal expansions and there's room for up to 3 more runways as needed. Two of the most desirable sites for HQ2 are within a 10 minute drive of the terminal.

In short, companies look not so much at how things are right now, to short term limitations, but how an area will evolve and progress in the coming decades and how they can shape it to their needs.

[The ATX]

Amazon is going to pick a city where it is easy to recruit talent and current employees from Seattle to move to. Therefore it is going to a city that is currently doing just fine without them.

[Novacek]

Originally Posted by undergroundman

Hell, the State is even having trouble getting cooperation from this petty vindictive council in developing the Capitol Complex Master Plan, something that would be great for the city of Austin.

You have no idea what you're talking about.


The city council simply had a perfectly reasonable discussion, as to whether Austin should give the state $7M of it's very limited resources for the state's project.

This immediately after the legislature passed a series of bills bashing Austin and the other cities.


The council had the discussion, and then passed it. So no, the state isn't "having trouble getting cooperation".