Amazon HQ2 RFP

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Much better.

I hate hate hate city handouts to private corporations but I supported GE's package (which was barely a package; more like an envelope) and I am on board with supporting Amazon with tax breaks, mitigation, blah, blah, blah. It is sooo different from stadiums, the Olympics, blah, blah, blah.

On its own, it's a great opportunity. If / when it jump starts some badly needed infrastructure upgrades, even better.

Maybe instead of tax breaks, the state lays out all the improvements we'll be making to make life easier for the corporation, their employees, and for the city / state in general, instead? That doesn't sound like a great way to win the bid but if presented correctly could put us near / at the top vs. other cities.

tysmith95 said:
I guess it's better then cities paying for football stadiums.
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tysmith95 said:
Looking at google maps, the area between Rutherford and Assembly could be a dark horse. Add in some building purchases in the Inner Belt or other areas and there is tons of room for amazon to build a large urban campus. Great transit and highway access, plus you're fairly close to MIT/Kendall and Tufts.

It might require some eminent domain, but i'd be in favor of using that to get Amazon to locate here. The same thing would be required at Widdet, though having multiple municipalities always complicates things.
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That's a good idea, If you centered it around a redevelopment of Sullivan station and stretched it north to the Mystic between Assembly and Rutherford, it would pretty much all be in Boston.
There's good infrastructure there with new orange line trains coming. Eventually served by Assembly/Sullivan/Community College stations
Good access to Logan and 93.
Mystic waterfront, tying in with Wynn's water taxi.
Sandwiched between East Somerville and Charlestown for the urban experience they're on about.
Extra land to expand in to down as far as Bunker Hill CC/innerbelt and Northpoint.
Educated workforce on hand.
Affordable housing (relatively) to the north in Everett.
The major drawback would be traffic and accessibility, but that'll be an issue everywhere in Boston.
 
They could make a couple improvements. Maybe extend a HOV lane up to Woburn, switch the commuter rail stop from Malden to Sullivan, improve bus infrastructure and add bus lane.

Also Amazon's corporate colors are orange. Therefore it would make sense to center the new HQ around the orange line.
 
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Ruairi said:
That's a good idea, If you centered it around a redevelopment of Sullivan station and stretched it north to the Mystic between Assembly and Rutherford, it would pretty much all be in Boston.
There's good infrastructure there with new orange line trains coming. Eventually served by Assembly/Sullivan/Community College stations
Good access to Logan and 93.
Mystic waterfront, tying in with Wynn's water taxi.
Sandwiched between East Somerville and Charlestown for the urban experience they're on about.
Extra land to expand in to down as far as Bunker Hill CC/innerbelt and Northpoint.
Educated workforce on hand.
Affordable housing (relatively) to the north in Everett.
The major drawback would be traffic and accessibility, but that'll be an issue everywhere in Boston.
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Timing is the issue for redevelopment plans that aren't already "in the works" as something needs to be ready to put into the response (or responses) in just the next week or so.

I know there has been some redevelopment planning for this area, but I think it lags other proposals.

At this point do we even know if the governor's office is point for this process?

Not having a state planning agency appears to be a real problem now.

Having one proposal from Massachusetts with 20 different possible locations would be better than having 20 different proposals from Massachusetts.

One proposal with a lot of options shows that Massachusetts is ready to negotiate and has an option to fit different needs that Amazon might have, having 20 different proposals from 20 different municipalities or private corporations even would show how complicated it is to do business across municipal lines in this state.
 
tysmith95 said:
They could make a couple improvements. Maybe extend a HOV lane up to Woburn, switch the commuter rail stop from Malden to Sullivan, improve bus infrastructure and add bus lane.

Also Amazon's corporate colors are orange. Therefore it would make sense to center the new HQ around the orange line.
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Need to finally reconfigure the I93/I95 interchange in Woburn if we are talking about an HOV lane. The interchange is a cluster fuck already without adding cars trying to merge from yet another lane.

But I like the angle that the Orange line matches the Amazon corporate colors. Give a point to North Point/Sullivan Square area.
 
tangent said:
Not having a state planning agency appears to be a real problem now.

Having one proposal from Massachusetts with 20 different possible locations would be better than having 20 different proposals from Massachusetts.

One proposal with a lot of options shows that Massachusetts is ready to negotiate and has an option to fit different needs that Amazon might have, having 20 different proposals from 20 different municipalities or private corporations even would show how complicated it is to do business across municipal lines in this state.
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My understanding is that there will be one proposal, from MassDevelopment. They're not quite a planning agency, but they're doing the job here.
 
Wasn't the state suing GE over river cleanup when they moved here?
 
Globe article on Bezos' history/experiences with Boston. He likes smart people.

http://www.bostonglobe.com/business...bout-boston/yKb9pR9zfb1SMd1MnTTTdJ/story.html
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In theory, Massachusetts law on eminent domain would not prohibit the city of Boston from taking private property for Amazon HQ, but any such taking would be contentious and litigated. Perhaps the most recent attempt to use eminent domain for private development was in Carver where a developer wanted the town to take several residential properties by eminent domain to allow him to increase the size of his development. The town refused.

In my reading of Amazon's RFP, it would basically rule out a proposed site that a city planned to acquire at some future date by eminent domain.
 
Honestly if Amazon didn't want to use any eminent domain the only option in the Boston area would be Suffolk Downs (or possibly Allston yards). However eminent domain around either Sullivan or dot ave would not affect any resident property, all of it would be commercial. It's much easier to use eminent domain for commercial compared to residental.
 
tysmith95 said:
Honestly if Amazon didn't want to use any eminent domain the only option in the Boston area would be Suffolk Downs (or possibly Allston yards).
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Wait, what?

My understanding is that Dot Ave, South Station (once acquired from USPS), and South Bay Center are all largish contiguous, transit-accessible sites in the hands of commercial owners who are likely to work together on parcel assembly and selling out to Amazon for top "parcel assembly" dollar.

And Wynn never had to use eminent domain in Everett, all it took was paying a parcel-flipper double, and then taking 2x, 3x, or 5x market prices for key (small) parcels.
 
Arlington said:
Wait, what?

My understanding is that Dot Ave, South Station (once acquired from USPS), and South Bay Center are all largish contiguous, transit-accessible sites in the hands of commercial owners who are likely to work together on parcel assembly and selling out to Amazon for top "parcel assembly" dollar.

And Wynn never had to use eminent domain in Everett, all it took was taking 2x, 3x, or 5x market prices for key prices.
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The commercial business north of Sullivan aren't much different then the commercial businesses along Dot Ave. Sullivan has lots of state owned land and parking lots, including a big bus yard. Assembly still has lots of plots available that are ready to start building, just look at 5 Middlesex Avenue.

And if I had to guess i'd say that the South Bay development is a lucrative piece of commercial property. it's the only strip mall in the area, on the other hand there is Gateway Plaza, Fellsway Center, the Meadow Glen Mall redevelopment, and others all within a mile of the assembly strip mall. I believe that makes the Assembly Strip Mall more replaceable then South Bay. Within the Assembly area the Circuit City plot has been empty for years.

I like North Station, Rutherford, and Assembly as a contiguous redevelopment corridor even more then I like South Station/Dot Ave/South Bay. Also South Bay is still a bit separated from the red line and the rest of the proposed redevelopment (by I93 and a bunch of train tracks).

Also while I93 north of the city is congested, the Expressway is much worse.

Of course the reconfiguration of Sullivan will take time, and could delay an Amazon build out. That's the biggest issue with having Amazon along the Orange Line.
 
I am not a fan of the silicon valley private shuttle buses so I'd want this to be a T route, but a revamped Rutherford Ave/Sullivan Sq would be the perfect opportunity to run buses from North Station to Assembly along Rt 99, maybe via Northpoint, while totally skipping 93. Maybe provide expresses which only stop at "Amazon" stops certain times of day.
 
All the functionality of a contiguous campus where meetings between individuals and teams can be arranged same day or even same hour can be just as easily achieved with individual non-contiguous parcels in a walkable radius or even a quick predictable transit ride away.

Bundling together clusters of available real estate near T stops should also be on the table.
 
tangent said:
Bundling together clusters of available real estate near T stops should also be on the table.
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A flagship tower at government center, another administrative tower at north station, and some low rise buildings, at assembly, Sullivan, and/or community stations. All connected by Amazon's corporate line, the orange line.
 
tysmith95 said:
A flagship tower at government center, another administrative tower at north station, and some low rise buildings, at assembly, Sullivan, and/or community stations. All connected by Amazon's corporate line, the orange line.
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YES. And try to build in some of the vacant lots surrounding the Orange Line.
 
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