Amazon HQ2 RFP

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Re: The New Office Thread

Mongo said:
I don't really understand their airport ranking either, why would New York's airport be ranked that much better than ours?
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Probably the number of flights each airport can handle, hence why Atlanta and Chicago is 1 and 2 (Hartsfield-Jackson and O'Hare are 1 and 2 by the number of commercial passengers per year)
 
Re: The New Office Thread

But if you think about convenience, Boston is much better than New York. Logan is not a pleasant airport to use, but it is very close to the city and easily accessible by car, ferry, and public transit. Flying into or out of the airports in New York is a slog.

KentXie said:
Probably the number of flights each airport can handle, hence why Atlanta and Chicago is 1 and 2 (Hartsfield-Jackson and O'Hare are 1 and 2 by the number of commercial passengers per year)
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Re: Amazon seeking 2nd HQ

I'm betting AMAZON is heading to BOSTON. This where all the innovation is coming out.
 
Amazon has issued an RFP for locating a new corporate campus in another US city... which they expect will create tens of thousands of jobs and be a multi billion dollar investment: https://www.amazon.com/b?ie=UTF8&node=17044620011

Cities/States can submit multiple potential sites as part of the RFP, but Amazon would prefer one RFP per metropolitan area. Discuss.
 
A quick look around at large redevelopment sites in close proximity to the city that are on transit and have close proximity to talent and appear to have potential to be interesting to Amazon...

Harvard's Beacon Park Yard redevelopment - has the size to accommodate an Amazon campus and well situated near major universities, near the Charles River and the potential to be part of the urban fabric of Boston, but might take too long to move the highway and build West Station for Amazon's time frame... have to see.

MIT Kendall Square - Volpe plus - Volpe isn't as large of a site, but MIT owns a lot of real estate in and around Kendall. Going tall at Volpe as some have wanted might give Amazon a tall headquarters with a lot of surrounding buildings in the tech hub of Kendall Square.

Fort Point/Seaport - building on the success of the GE headquarters and with plenty of hotel space there could be enough redevelopable land here to accommodate an urban campus.

Though with the size of their requirements you might have to consider some part or combination all three sites or more.

What about other locations or some of the downtown sites for going tall, plus some surrounding buildings?
 
Re: The New Office Thread

Maybe not the place for it, but it looks like I'm going to be the first person to defend City Hall on this topic. We all have problems with the building and the plaza, but I think it would send the wrong message to--well, pretty much everyone--that our center of government is literally for sale to the highest bidder. I'd love to see Amazon come to town but in the same way that I think future generations will look down on us for not rehabilitating the building and giving the plaza the landscape makeover it deserves, I'd hate to be the one to explain how we gave away some of our most prominent public space for the promise of some jobs from a corporation which could and probably will move away eventually.

There are other great suggestions being proposed though. Carry on.
 
Oops... sorry missed this in the other two threads... probably could use a bit of thread consolidation. And its own thread.
 
Re: The New Office Thread

1) Harvard's Beacon Park Yard redevelopment - has the size to accommodate an Amazon campus and well situated near major universities, near the Charles River and the potential to be part of the urban fabric of Boston, but might take too long to move the highway and build West Station for Amazon's time frame... have to see. But the timing could work out if they begin by building towards the river, build West Station and then complete the campus with the highway realignment.

2) MIT Kendall Square - Volpe plus - Volpe probably isn't as large of a site, but MIT owns a lot of real estate in and around Kendall. Going tall at Volpe as some have wanted might give Amazon a tall headquarters with a lot of surrounding buildings in the tech hub of Kendall Square.

3) Fort Point/Seaport - building on the success of the GE headquarters and with plenty of hotel space there could be enough redevelopable land here to accommodate an urban campus.

B) I would put North Point in there but North Point is already partly built out and the plans would have to be changed pretty radically to accommodate Amazon. Maybe the remainder of North Point plus some surrounding areas... or over into Sullivan Square perhaps?
 
Re: The New Office Thread

Also, One Congress at Bulfinch Crossing and Phase III of the Hub on Causeway are looking for anchor office tenants to make happen... combined and maybe with some buildings in between they could probably offer enough space for Amazon in a very prime location. Pun intended.
 
Re: The New Office Thread

What are they using to rank universities? Hard to see why Boston ranks at number 8 behind cities like Chicago, Houston and Miami.

Their airport rankings are also out of whack. Toronto should not be behind Charlotte for example.
 
Re: The New Office Thread

mass88 said:
What are they using to rank universities? Hard to see why Boston ranks at number 8 behind cities like Chicago, Houston and Miami.

Their airport rankings are also out of whack. Toronto should not be behind Charlotte for example.
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I would imagine that ranking might be by student population, or share of students. I know Miami-Dade College alone has 165,000+ students, which alone is more than the City of Boston's ~150,000.
 
Re: The New Office Thread

^^of course. That + parcels near Govt Center can be developed and reach Amazon's numbers.

Boston is a better choice than DC for a number of reasons.

Transit? More infrastructure needed.

Winning; New York.
 
Re: The New Office Thread

Inner belt in Somerville would offer an out of the box area. Not being a greenfield site owned by many different owners, there would be challenges acquiring the land, and the train tracks for the Lowell line may not be ideal but that could addressed. But, it is better connected to transit and more important areas than some of the logical choices, especially considering potential improvements/expansion of roadways and the MBTA in the immediate area.
 
Re: The New Office Thread

Here is an idea; Chelsea. there is still a lot of vacant land, one story buildings. commuter rail connection to Boston and the North Shore. the Silver Line could be made into light rail. Close to the airport. Immediate access to Tobin bridge. Lot of gentrifiable areas in Chelsea and Everett.
 
Re: The New Office Thread

Reading the RFP they are encouraging a single response from the government of metropolitan area... so in this case it should be the state government and the interested cities putting together a single response package.

And they are open to multiple locations being in the response to the RFP... so at this point it makes sense for the state to put together a response that includes ALL of the above possible locations for Amazon to choose between.

Basically just a potential tax incentive package with a list of all the potential real estate locations.

Amazon already has offices in Kendall Square, by the way.
 
One option, relocate Bunker Hill community college and redevolope that site.

BHCC is basically a suburban campus in an urban setting. That along with the redevelopment of Rutherford and Sullivan circle could be a good spot.

Assembly in Somerville would be a good option, though I don't see somerville giving out tax breaks like Boston might.

But yah the Allston interchange was what first came to mind for me.
 
Re: The New Office Thread

estyle said:
But if you think about convenience, Boston is much better than New York. Logan is not a pleasant airport to use, but it is very close to the city and easily accessible by car, ferry, and public transit. Flying into or out of the airports in New York is a slog.
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Honestly, I would put any airport with a good connection to a rapid transit system on and around the same level as long as it is not over a 1 hr journey. There isn't much of a difference at least for me if it takes me 15 minutes to get into city vs 45 minutes. In addition Chicago has both airports fed directly by heavy rail and NYC mta run 24 hrs, guaranteeing that I can reach my hotel via public transit unlike Boston where I would have to fight with fellow passengers for a taxi or Uber if I land after 12 am. There's more to convenience than just being located close to downtown.

Out of all the US airports I've been through, in terms of being able to get into the downtown to and from my hotel, here is my rank:

1. Chicago - Midway
2. Chicago - O'Hare
3. San Diego - San Diego International
4. Seattle - Sea-Tac
5. San Francisco - San Francisco International
6. Boston - Logan
7. NYC - JFK
8. Honolulu - Honolulu International
9. Los Angeles - LAX
10. St Louis - Lambert International
11. Ft Lauderdale - Hollywood International
 
Re: The New Office Thread

tangent said:
Also, One Congress at Bulfinch Crossing and Phase III of the Hub on Causeway are looking for anchor office tenants to make happen... combined and maybe with some buildings in between they could probably offer enough space for Amazon in a very prime location. Pun intended.
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Like that idea. How about you add in city hall. Just build a new city hall somewhere else.

Also I'm surprised there isn't more talk about widdet circle.
 
Re: The New Office Thread

I really think that this Amazon discussion is too big for the general office thread. It really should be split to its own dedicated thread.
 
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