CHICAGO | Economic & Business Development

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by emathias

I think he meant a giant company growing rapidly downtown, not downtown itself growing.

That's what I was thinking, but you can never be too sure

[left of center]

Originally Posted by Kenmore

lol, no it wasn't

If Amazon was able to get enough millennials to come to Seattle in order to satiate their demand for employees who would pay for the outrageous housing/living costs, why even bother with a secondary HQ? Amazon is one of the primary drivers of the unaffordability of the Seattle area (as well as other tech giants such as MSFT) and primary driver behind many anti business/populist laws (such as the head tax in order to fund homeless initiatives) which Amazon is vehemently opposed. They literally tapped Seattle dry, and needed to find new hunting grounds.

Otherwise, I would like to hear your reasoning as to why. Your response to me what a bit light on the details.

[killaviews]

Originally Posted by LouisVanDerWright

If steely hadn't deleted my comments on lease sizes in the WPS thread you might have some sense of scale when it come to lease scale.

What are the largest leases downtown?

[Baronvonellis]

https://www.theonion.com/you-are-all...eff-1829865580

I think the Onion has the most accurate article on amazon lol! I think their plan is now that they found out what each city is willing to give them in tax breaks and investments, they are planning on opening regional offices all over the US.

This is just their East Coast expansion for now. Next they will have a midwest branch in Chicago, something in the South in Dallas, Miami, Atlanta ect. They need to suck up all the talent in the US.

[sentinel]

Fine whatever, Chicago doesn't get HQ2: Electric Boogaloo; adding new population and the tax base that comes with it would have been nice, but it seems clear now that this entire rat race was nothing more than a smokescreen: they always had every intention of moving to DC, from the very beginning. The NYC office is a genuflection to appease any criticism of their bullshit. Chicago was the best suited to host a large new headquarters, given that all three of their main selection criteria were met here. This was a total publicity scam on Amazon's part.

Maybe now, NYC and DC are eliminated from Apple's eye for their beauty pageant..

[IrishIllini]

Originally Posted by sentinel

Fine whatever, Chicago doesn't get HQ2: Electric Boogaloo; adding new population and the tax base that comes with it would have been nice, but it seems clear now that this entire rat race was nothing more than a smokescreen: they always had every intention of moving to DC, from the very beginning. The NYC office is a genuflection to appease any criticism of their bullshit. Chicago was the best suited to host a large new headquarters, given that all three of their main selection criteria were met here. This was a total publicity scam on Amazon's part.

Maybe now, NYC and DC are eliminated from Apple's eye for their beauty pageant..

Didn't Apple already decide on Raleigh?

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by IrishIllini

Didn't Apple already decide on Raleigh?

No...

[chicubs111]

the funniest part of this whole amazon HQ2 is that they still havent "officially" stated that its virigninia and NYC...i mean all these leaks were just assuming its a done deal (which most likely it is) but i would think Amazon coming out and offically stating it publicy would of happened today i would think... but im really suprised about NYC being selected and the whole split into 2 HQ's... Chicago really was so ideal for this and they had the best site (the 78") right at the heart of downtown and a blank slate to build as much as Amazon wanted.

[IrishIllini]

Ah, it was rumored to be headed there and there's none on that since.

[left of center]

Oh well, Amazon's loss. Potential site for either Google or Apple (although they are more suburban campus oriented) instead!

[Khantilever]

Originally Posted by left of center

Oh well, Amazon's loss. Potential site for either Google or Apple (although they are more suburban campus oriented) instead!

Interestingly, breaking news that Google is adding up to 20,000 workers in NYC as well—almost as much as Amazon’s HQ2/2.

This whole contest has turned out to be such a joke.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/google-...636579?mod=mhp

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by chicubs111

the funniest part of this whole amazon HQ2 is that they still havent "officially" stated that its virigninia and NYC...i mean all these leaks were just assuming its a done deal (which most likely it is) but i would think Amazon coming out and offically stating it publicy would of happened today i would think... but im really suprised about NYC being selected and the whole split into 2 HQ's... Chicago really was so ideal for this and they had the best site (the 78") right at the heart of downtown and a blank slate to build as much as Amazon wanted.

Nobody should really assume the rumors are true until Amazon comes out and says it. There could be something to it for sure, but you have to remember that they're also trying to get good deals. Negotiations are happening. There is nothing saying that Amazon is not negotiating with one site in order to get leverage in negotiations with another site right now. The people who leaked the info are probably not from Amazon but rather from the CRE team trying to sell them or maybe the city delegation. It's possible they don't have all the info (and possible they do).

Case in point: People listen way too much to rumors and aren't patient enough to stick around until the actual announcement. If it was a done deal, then we'd probably hear something about it today I'd think. Maybe it'll happen tomorrow, who knows. But if there's no announcement by around Thanksgiving, then you can start to understand that perhaps the information leakers don't actually have all the info.


Funny thing though is the NY Times has an article talking about how this whole thing was a bait and switch. A few economists saying how it was kind of messed up:
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/06/t...-virginia.html

[Fvn]

Has this tweet from the Amazon director of economic development been referenced yet?

https://twitter.com/MikeGrella/statu...68648884682753

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by Fvn

Has this tweet from the Amazon director of economic development been referenced yet?

https://twitter.com/MikeGrella/statu...68648884682753

I referenced it last page.

[chicubs111]

wast there supposed to be a google expansion in Chicago that was between 1k to 5k?..this isnt including the one at there Fulton market..but it was a separate expansion...i remember rumblings of it?

[ski_steve]

Originally Posted by chicubs111

wast there supposed to be a google expansion in Chicago that was between 1k to 5k?..this isnt including the one at there Fulton market..but it was a separate expansion...i remember rumblings of it?

Yep, signed a new lease in another building for 132,000SF. Doesn't specify employee counts other than accommodating existing.


Sterling Bay signs Google to big lease at Fulton Market office building
The 132K sf space will help tech giant house its 1K Chicago-based employees
http://https://therealdeal.com/chica...fice-building/

[the urban politician]

^ They have to be expanding. It would be very lame if they added all that space just to accommodate their existing workforce....

[tjp]

Originally Posted by Khantilever

Interestingly, breaking news that Google is adding up to 20,000 workers in NYC as well—almost as much as Amazon’s HQ2/2.


https://www.wsj.com/articles/google-...636579?mod=mhp

Gah - I'm so envious of this (and HQ2). The tech expansions we're seeing in Chicago are exciting but sort of seem like peanuts compared to what other top tier cities are seeing.

[marothisu]

For a normal office, I think 132k square ft is in the 1000 worker range.

[k1052]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

^ They have to be expanding. It would be very lame if they added all that space just to accommodate their existing workforce....

No, they'll have another 1500ish people working here eventually. I heard they've outgrown their existing space up the street.