Amazon HQ2 RFP

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Tombstoner said:
... but the place is hardly lacking in world-class robotics, computer science, engineering, medical sciences (which Amazon is eyeing) or infrastructure that could support a very large tech company.
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If Amazon is eyeing medical sciences, wouldn't that be a huge plus for Boston? I not very knowledgeable in this area but doesn't Boston have some of the best hospitals/medical facilities in the country?
 
Blackdog said:
If Amazon is eyeing medical sciences, wouldn't that be a huge plus for Boston? I not very knowledgeable in this area but doesn't Boston have some of the best hospitals/medical facilities in the country?
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Exactly. If we're trying to figure out where Amazon will go (relative to Boston), the discussion shouldn't be "City X has great thing Y!", it should be "City X does Y better than Boston"
 
Rover said:
I'm more talking about Texas itself, but point taken about not turning this political.
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Texas is pretty bad for a career focused woman though. Speaking as a woman who has warned other women against texas. If it wasn't for state legislation, the subtle talking down to women ingrained in the culture is grating. Austin is great, but it doesn't escape the fact that not only is it Texas, but it's the capital of Texas.
 
ant8904 said:
Let's trash Austin because Texans voted for Trump.

Let's trash Baltimore because its a crime ridden dump.

Let's trash Chicago because of it's corruption.

Let's trash Pittsburgh because it's a not quite recovered rust belt dump.

How about we stop trashing other cities here. We're living up to the old snotty Boston reputation (with exception to NYC where we turn it into a inferiority complex for obvious reasons). Amazon is looking at a second headquarters. Boston has a lot of strengths we can sell on. Our strengths is what allowed us to punch above our weight and it's what allow Boston to forge a new path from becoming a rust belt city and hopefully now bring us Amazon.

But we don't know if it will be enough. They are looking at a lot of cities and there's a lot of things that influence their decision. Let's hope for the best.
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Actually, until about 7-8 years ago, we were all trashing Boston as a parochial backwater that couldn't dream big.

That still exists (fear of Olympics 2024, Indy racing, some who don't want Amazon) but that old fogey generation is dying off.

It's actually refreshing, for those of us who remember what Boston used to be, to watch people puff out their chests here a bit.

Bostonians are finally getting some swagger.

At the same time, lets be realistic. Amazon isn't going to pay $2.5 billion to Harvard for 100 acres of Beacon Yards. They'll want it for free or else they'll do something else. To paraphrase the immortal words of John Houseman, they won't simply show up, bite us in the butt and say we-ah he-ah:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVXWakbPq6o
 
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Old, Backwater Boston is DeLeo pushing a plush deal to offer Amazon Suffolk Downs.

New, aspirational Boston puts together the South Station bundle with NSRL.

We'll see which city we live in soon enough.

(Nothing against the Suffolk Downs site per se - i think i can and should be a model mixed use new urban green-eco redevelopment...I'm just saying its not our best option for an Amazon bid)
 
Funny to see all this spilled ink on Pittsburgh (both here and across other media) when there is another city in the same state that may be the single best choice in the whole country.

Philadelphia is a major city in its own right and perfectly located in the middle of the Northeast Corridor, with incredibly easy access to other BosWash cities. An HQ there would be able to draw talent from across the northeast, from Boston to Pittsburgh to DC, not to mention the universities already in its orbit (UPenn, Drexel, Temple, Swarthmore, Villanova, Bryn Mawr, arguably Princeton and U Delaware). Culturally it's in the same league as Boston, DC, and Chicago and way ahead of an Austin or Denver, with a diverse population and growing edgy/hipster vibe that would appeal to recent grads. SEPTA isn't amazing but is a pretty damn solid subway+commuter rail system by American standards, and connects Center City to a major international airport. Finally, relative to all it has to offer, Philly is still DIRT CHEAP!

So there you go, why wouldn't Amazon pick Philadelphia? It makes so much sense and so many different levels. Better than Boston, I'm afraid (too expensive), and way better than Pittsburgh.
 
lexicon506 said:
So there you go, why wouldn't Amazon pick Philadelphia? It makes so much sense and so many different levels. Better than Boston, I'm afraid (too expensive), and way better than Pittsburgh.
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That's kind of the fascinating part of this, Amazon has so many options. Which of course makes it that much less likely to be worth it to the winner.
 
So let's put aside for a moment that Philly is a dangerous crime riddled dump. If cost is your end all be all, but Austin and Atlanta are out due to politics, why not go to Baltimore instead of Philly as you're near the tech talent of DC?
 
shmessy said:
At the same time, lets be realistic. Amazon isn't going to pay $2.5 billion to Harvard for 100 acres of Beacon Yards. [/url]
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No they will pay 3 billion... Seriously why are people thinking Amazon is looking for Boston's shittiest real estate? Maybe they will take some land around Deer Island Treatment Facility?

Seattle HQ1 demonstrates they want prime real estate in the heart of the city. And Amazon has already located in Fort Point, Kendell Square and Back bay... this isn't like Wynn looking to score points to gain a monopoly license by choosing a parcel that is otherwise undevelopable.
 
FenwayResident said:
Exactly. If we're trying to figure out where Amazon will go (relative to Boston), the discussion shouldn't be "City X has great thing Y!", it should be "City X does Y better than Boston"
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Nope. The argument is not (and never was) that Pittsburgh does computer science better than Boston or engineering better than Boston or medical science better than Boston or Pittsburgh has "better culture" than Boston--that's childish 'my dad can beat up your dad' crap. The point is that Pittsburgh is (whether you know it or not) a dynamic city with a growing talent pool, great historic neighborhoods (not all of them...are all of Boston's great?), low crime, business-friendly climate and huge affordability advantages over every other city Amazon is considering. And Boston has some advantages over every other city Amazon is considering. Amazon will be weighing pros and cons of the big picture--no city ticks all the boxes. Not everything in life has to be reduced to a pissing contest.
 
Rover said:
So let's put aside for a moment that Philly is a dangerous crime riddled dump. If cost is your end all be all, but Austin and Atlanta are out due to politics, why not go to Baltimore instead of Philly as you're near the tech talent of DC?
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Haha you obviously haven't been to Philly lately. Google "30th St. Station Development" and tell me if that looks like a crime-riddled dump to you. Everything between the Delaware River and UPenn is booming, the city is putting up skyscrapers with height some people on this forum would kill for, and population is growing again after decades of decline.

DC has a lot of tech talent? Since when? Better to be an hour train ride from NYC, an actual tech center, at a fraction of the cost of NYC.
 
Rover said:
So let's put aside for a moment that Philly is a dangerous crime riddled dump. If cost is your end all be all, but Austin and Atlanta are out due to politics, why not go to Baltimore instead of Philly as you're near the tech talent of DC?
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Philly really isn't these days (downtown). You're thinking Philly 20 years ago. The outskirts are still pretty depressing and Camden NJ as well, but even in those places improvement has been seen in recent years.

My family owns commercial real estate there and skyrocketing property values there sounds... good to me. Maybe I should be rooting for Philly instead of Baltimore.
 
lexicon506 said:
Funny to see all this spilled ink on Pittsburgh (both here and across other media) when there is another city in the same state that may be the single best choice in the whole country.

Philadelphia is a major city in its own right and perfectly located in the middle of the Northeast Corridor, with incredibly easy access to other BosWash cities. An HQ there would be able to draw talent from across the northeast, from Boston to Pittsburgh to DC, not to mention the universities already in its orbit (UPenn, Drexel, Temple, Swarthmore, Villanova, Bryn Mawr, arguably Princeton and U Delaware). Culturally it's in the same league as Boston, DC, and Chicago and way ahead of an Austin or Denver, with a diverse population and growing edgy/hipster vibe that would appeal to recent grads. SEPTA isn't amazing but is a pretty damn solid subway+commuter rail system by American standards, and connects Center City to a major international airport. Finally, relative to all it has to offer, Philly is still DIRT CHEAP!

So there you go, why wouldn't Amazon pick Philadelphia? It makes so much sense and so many different levels. Better than Boston, I'm afraid (too expensive), and way better than Pittsburgh.
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There are reasons why certain locales are, as you put it, "dirt cheap". Philly's are pretty well known.

That being said, Philadelphia has a big jump on Boston in that they actually acted and connected their two main train stations a couple of years ago, while Boston/Mass still dithers about the N-S Rail Link.
 
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Haven't heard anyone mention the JFK/Umass station area. K circle needs to be fixed, but access to T, Commuter rail and 93 (access to Logan) is right there, there is tons of available land with the Bayside redev, we've heard the request for a "Harvard Sq." style neighborhood. There seems to be enough square footage that if Amazon was allowed to go dense enough the total sq footage in their RFP could be reached. The fact that the surrounding neighborhoods are lower height might lead to local opposition, but personally I think this location would be better than Suffolk
 
Deetroyt said:
Haven't heard anyone mention the JFK/Umass station area. K circle needs to be fixed, but access to T, Commuter rail and 93 (access to Logan) is right there, there is tons of available land with the Bayside redev, we've heard the request for a "Harvard Sq." style neighborhood. There seems to be enough square footage that if Amazon was allowed to go dense enough the total sq footage in their RFP could be reached. The fact that the surrounding neighborhoods are lower height might lead to local opposition, but personally I think this location would be better than Suffolk
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Good point - JFK/UMass seems sonewhat more attractive to what Amazon wants than DeLeos neighborhood bordering the massive oil/gas tanks.
 
Tombstoner said:
Nope. The argument is not (and never was) that Pittsburgh does computer science better than Boston or engineering better than Boston or medical science better than Boston or Pittsburgh has "better culture" than Boston--that's childish 'my dad can beat up your dad' crap. The point is that Pittsburgh is (whether you know it or not) a dynamic city with a growing talent pool, great historic neighborhoods (not all of them...are all of Boston's great?), low crime, business-friendly climate and huge affordability advantages over every other city Amazon is considering. And Boston has some advantages over every other city Amazon is considering. Amazon will be weighing pros and cons of the big picture--no city ticks all the boxes. Not everything in life has to be reduced to a pissing contest.
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Umm, I think what Amazon very purposely created is the very definition of a pissing contest, no?
 
i listed Philadelphia as a likely serious challenger (a few days ago). It wasn't getting a lot of attention. (historic, somewhat iconic, location, location, location, up and coming, tons of land, and cheap).
 
Something I haven't heard directly mention, but while mbta has its shortfalls, our bid will be able to say in 5 years time the red, orange and green will be served by entirely new or refurbished sets. Well go from having one of the oldest fleets to youngest of any major transit system because it really is a bar wholesale turnover. Commuter rail will have tons of new cars and locos too. Regardless of nsrl or any additional capital in estment, this is a multi billion investment in progress.
 
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