Amazon HQ2 RFP

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Rover said:
Thanks for posting this. For all of the flaws of the Suffolk Downs proposal, I was curious what other cities are throwing out there. People keep posting that Philly is all that, but I drove by the Navy Yard last week and if that's the best they can do, I'm not sure a sane person can say they've trumped Boston. That site has no transit and is completely cut off by an elevated interstate, I-95. I would be like Boston pitching a site next to the old 93 before the Big Dig.

Tough in a developed city to find a huge parcel with one owner near transit. I would imagine New York and DC are going to have similar issues, while places like Atlanta or Charlotte have no transit to speak of
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DC also really couldn't find 100 acres.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...endiest-neighborhoods/?utm_term=.220deb977370


pbox.php


^^^^This is the largest of the sites from a contiguous land standpoint, but much of it is privately owned by multiple owners. The darkened areas in the background are a U.S. military installation.

The rendering appears to hide the new soccer stadium now under construction, which will be to the left of the gussied up South Capitol St bridge. (The stadium that can be seen is the baseball stadium.) Its possible the soccer stadium is shown as the rows of bright lights under the Washington Monument. But I can't be sure.

DCU_c0300_4k%20v02.jpg


^^^The soccer stadium, looking to the north. S. Capitol St is out-of-frame right.

This site would be a bit of a hike to the nearest Metro station, but closer than the Broad St subway station that is the nearest station to the Philadelphia Navy Yard. Highway access is poor with respect to where tech workers would likely live; i.e., they won't be living in Anacostia.
 
Rover said:
Thanks for posting this. For all of the flaws of the Suffolk Downs proposal, I was curious what other cities are throwing out there. People keep posting that Philly is all that, but I drove by the Navy Yard last week and if that's the best they can do, I'm not sure a sane person can say they've trumped Boston. That site has no transit and is completely cut off by an elevated interstate, I-95. I would be like Boston pitching a site next to the old 93 before the Big Dig.

Tough in a developed city to find a huge parcel with one owner near transit. I would imagine New York and DC are going to have similar issues, while places like Atlanta or Charlotte have no transit to speak of
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Answer: Port Covington - Baltimore

-One developer owns all the land - 260 waterfront acres - - Under Armour's CEO Kevin Planck who is building his company's 21st century HQ on a portion of the land and is headfirst in favor of bringing in Amazon for the whatever amount of the rest they'd like - - easy.

- The area is right on the MARC commuter line 55 minutes directly into DC (where Mr. Bezos has a $29 million mansion and owns the Washington Post) and the light rail line 11 minutes directly into the International Terminal at BWI Airport.

The only obstacle is a comparatively high state income tax rate - - cuts for which are currently being planned by Republican Governor Larry Hogan.

Easy. Far easier than anything in the Boston proposals. No, it isn't Boston in terms of the universities, Johns Hopkins and the U of MD system isn't chopped liver either. Housing is far more plentiful and land for developing more is too. What Baltimore loses in terms of the (current) state tax rate, they more than make up for with the tech talent in nearby Howard and Montgomery Counties.

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shmessy said:
Answer: Port Covington - Baltimore

-One developer owns all the land - 260 waterfront acres - - Under Armour's CEO Kevin Planck who is building his company's 21st century HQ on a portion of the land and is headfirst in favor of bringing in Amazon for the whatever amount of the rest they'd like - - easy.

- The area is right on the MARC commuter line 55 minutes directly into DC (where Mr. Bezos has a $29 million mansion and owns the Washington Post) and the light rail line 11 minutes directly into the International Terminal at BWI Airport.

The only obstacle is a comparatively high state income tax rate - - cuts for which are currently being planned by Republican Governor Larry Hogan.

Easy. Far easier than anything in the Boston proposals. No, it isn't Boston in terms of the universities, Johns Hopkins and the U of MD system isn't chopped liver either. Housing is far more plentiful and land for developing more is too. What Baltimore loses in terms of the (current) state tax rate, they more than make up for with the tech talent in nearby Howard and Montgomery Counties.

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It would be appealing, but how is it "easier than anything in the Boston proposals?" Suffolk Downs is construction ready in March and has two nearly-exclusive Blue Line stations right now. Port Covington has the potential for one commuter rail station (access to DC but not to Virginia or most of the DC suburbs) and maybe could have street-running light rail someday, which is access to Downtown Baltimore but nowhere else, at least in their latest dead-end plan.

I'm not sure Suffolk Downs is their best option, but it's almost certainly their easiest.
 
I am not aware of a MARC station at/near Port Covington. The Camden line is some distance away. A light rail route has been proposed to reach Port Covington. I think a geographic analogy to Port Covington would be Squantum, or UMass Boston without the Red Line.
 
Additional criterion?

Jeff Wilke, CEO of Amazon’s worldwide consumer business and a member of the committee that will decide where HQ2 will be located, added a bit of detail that goes beyond Amazon’s public request. In comments at a conference hosted by technology news site GeekWire last week, he said he hoped the company would choose a spot with public schools with an emphasis on science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
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https://www.seattletimes.com/busine...2-bids-closes-speculation-on-winner-heats-up/

Wilje did his graduate work (MBA and MS in Chemical Engineering) at MIT's Leaders For Manufacturing program, where he focused on Total Quality and Process Improvement techniques. Mr. Wilke has a BSE Degree in Chemical Engineering from Princeton University.
 
Stellar, Thanks for all the great info. Very interesting stuff. I still like Metro Bostons chances.
 
fattony, I think if Amazon feels a need for a synergy between universities and Amazon in the field of A.I., the synergy ought to be proximate rather than distant.
____________________________________

http://www.chicagotribune.com/busin...2-sites-unveiled-ryan-ori-20171020-story.html

^^^^Chicago, lots of sites.

http://www.512tech.com/technology/a...zon-giant-hq2-project/6El98Ilo67Ek5Zw8i9cHCO/

^^^ Austin. I have found very little hard information. Interesting that the bid was submitted by the Chamber of Commerce, not the city, or the state.
________________

beeline, for all those who were highly critical of Boston's bid, it doesn't look bad at all compared to what some of the other contenders have put forward. Chicago has several very interesting, large-acreage sites.
 
If they're sticking to a robust transit network as in subways and commuter rail, this is a much more narrow contest than it first appeared. Atlanta, Charlotte, and Austin are out. Get rid of the cities with transit but which are crime riddled dumps (Baltimore, Philly, Detroit) and's who's left? Boston NY, DC, Chicago, Denver maybe (not sure of Denver's transit situation)...
 
Rover said:
If they're sticking to a robust transit network as in subways and commuter rail, this is a much more narrow contest than it first appeared. Atlanta, Charlotte, and Austin are out. Get rid of the cities with transit but which are crime riddled dumps (Baltimore, Philly, Detroit) and's who's left? Boston NY, DC, Chicago, Denver maybe (not sure of Denver's transit situation)...
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Are we trying to meet some sort of clueless asshole quota? Why is it that people feel the need to post about things they know so little about?
 
Although Suffolk Downs is well presented, I can't see Amazon going for it.
I think they'll be concerned about sea level rise. I also think they will look to be more embedded in a community. They will want to be closer to MIT.
If the leaders of Boston, Cambridge and Somerville can come together, I think theres a good bid starting with North Point in 2019 and expanding along the GLX to Union/Boynton yards by 2021. This actually doesn't include Boston but a bid like this with the support of Walsh would be a great show of unity.
 
Ruairi said:
Although Suffolk Downs is well presented, I can't see Amazon going for it.
I think they'll be concerned about sea level rise. I also think they will look to be more embedded in a community. They will want to be closer to MIT.
If the leaders of Boston, Cambridge and Somerville can come together, I think theres a good bid starting with North Point in 2019 and expanding along the GLX to Union/Boynton yards by 2021. This actually doesn't include Boston but a bid like this with the support of Walsh would be a great show of unity.
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You can build by the water/in a flood zone and still be resilient. If anything, it gives you bragging rights that you built sustainable, resilient structures in a flood plain and engineered the site to be able to accommodate sea level rise.
 
Justin7 said:
Are we trying to meet some sort of clueless asshole quota? Why is it that people feel the need to post about things they know so little about?
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+1. It's comments like that that I sometimes hope the other cities win.
 
Supposedly 238 cities submitted bids.

http://www.denverpost.com/2017/10/18/amazon-headquarters-colorado-pitch/
^^^^Denver
Not much detail; from general descriptions some of the sites may be in the figurative boonies. The video link in the article is not part of the submission. The article has one or two sentence summaries of what some other cities are offering.

https://crej.com/news/amazon-hq2-comes-denver-might-go/
Colorado won't identify the eight sites chosen. ^^^^Guesses above.

The Globe's coverage of the Boston bid far exceeds what I've seen elsewhere for other cities.
 
datadyne007 said:
You can build by the water/in a flood zone and still be resilient. If anything, it gives you bragging rights that you built sustainable, resilient structures in a flood plain and engineered the site to be able to accommodate sea level rise.
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Don't get me wrong, I'm sure it's doable, and can easily be spun in to a plus. I just think it might be an initial detraction.
Could be crazy but I think part of the idea for a HQ2 could be to future proof (as best you can) against elements/natural disasters. Only been to Seattle a few times but the threat of an earthquake seems to be in the back of everyones minds.
 
Justin7 said:
Are we trying to meet some sort of clueless asshole quota? Why is it that people feel the need to post about things they know so little about?
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I'm going to cut you some slack before I rip you to shreds, so remember to thank me later! What exactly are you so offended by? The fact that few cities have robust transit networks or that Philly, Baltimore and Detroit are freakin dumps?
 
stellarfun said:
The Globe's coverage of the Boston bid far exceeds what I've seen elsewhere for other cities.
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The Boston proposal in general far exceeds the ones from other cities in terms of detail. That's surprising to me, but I guess having HYM's project notice to work from might have helped.
 
Rover said:
I'm going to cut you some slack before I rip you to shreds, so remember to thank me later! What exactly are you so offended by? The fact that few cities have robust transit networks or that Philly, Baltimore and Detroit are freakin dumps?
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I don't think he is offended by anything you said per se. I think the issue is trashing another city because of the poster's own insecurity is counterproductive to the discussion.

Here's how you can reword your post so that you can sound like an adult, rover.

"If they're sticking to a robust transit network as in subways and commuter rail, this is a much more narrow contest than it first appeared. Atlanta, Charlotte, and Austin are out. We can exclude the cities with transit but have a high crime rate (Baltimore, Philly, Detroit) and who's left? Boston NY, DC, Chicago, Denver maybe (not sure of Denver's transit situation)."

By the way, high crime rate doesn't necessarily rule out any cities. Unless the entire city is in the middle of a war-zone, there are pockets of area that do not see significant crime. That's why cities like Philly and Chicago, both cities with high-crime rates, are still large business centers.
 
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