Amazon HQ2 RFP

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Re: The New Office Thread

tangent said:
Good article that ranks Boston just behind Toronto for HQ2:

https://www.geekwire.com/2017/six-cities-amazon-consider-second-headquarters/
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The dealbreaker (IMO) for Toronto is the visa/passport issue. Having a second HQ in another country would reduce the fluidity between the two offices. Travel would be more cumbersome and relocation would cost more time and money.

Doesn't make sense for it to be in Toronto unless it could offer something no other US city could.
 
Re: The New Office Thread

KentXie said:
Immigrants and stability.
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This is veering into political discussion, but many US cities (including Boston) have a healthy immigrant population despite hot air coming from the White House. I don't see that being a major factor.

Plus, if they were to locate their HQ in Canada they would need to get visas for all US talent they wanted to hire. Toronto has a lot of top-tier tech talent but it doesn't have nearly as much as Amazon needs. They would need to draw from the US at some point.
 
tysmith95 said:
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.
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I say throw whatever potential large scale redevelopments that you can get agreement for from the landowners on the list of sites that goes in the response to the RFP... but I think the state needs to put together a preliminary proposal pretty quickly to have a good shot.

So the emphasis will need to include probably multiple large redevelopments already in the pipeline and further along in planning but that don't already have tenants.

Basically a list of potential tax incentives with a list of potential sites (and/or existing properties on the market) both in and around Boston.
 
i would like to see Amazon locate to Downtown/Govt Center/West End w/ west Blue Line branch, NS Rail link completed, etc..... there's room for 7-10M sq ft of development at 4~5 sites. i like Northpoint as a housing resource.

iamdjmichael said:
Government Center Garage maybe?
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odurandina said:
i would like to see Amazon locate to Downtown/Govt Center/West End w/ west Blue Line branch, NS Rail link completed, etc..... there's room for 7-10M sq ft of development at 4~5 sites. i like Northpoint as a housing resource.
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Suffolk Downs has room for thousands and thousands of units.

Amazon already has the Amazon Robotics headquarters in North Reading. Hopefully already having a presence here will help attract the 2nd headquarters.
 
Its worth looking at job openings in Seattle to see what kind of jobs Amazon is recruiting for.
https://www.indeed.com/jobs?q=Amazo...V-1GDknB2IwEN3rZ2qa4h4i0Gfh1utSV2rU36Dn-A59mJ

One example, software development for Amazon restaurants.
https://us-amazon.icims.com/jobs/52...ob_aggregator&utm_content=job_posting&ss=paid

Some of the ads emphasize this: Amazon is an Equal Opportunity-Affirmative Action Employer – Minority / Female / Disability / Veteran / Gender Identity / Sexual Orientation....
^^^^ Which is why I think any number of red states are really out of the running because of exclusionary laws and policies.
 
tysmith95 said:
Suffolk Downs has room for thousands and thousands of units.

Amazon already has the Amazon Robotics headquarters in North Reading. Hopefully already having a presence here will help attract the 2nd headquarters.
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I wouldn't rule out a somewhat suburban campus. Say something at or around Anderson RTC in Woburn or something worked out with GE at Riverworks. Quincy. Maybe Waltham/Newton. Pick ten different sites and put them in the proposal and let Amazon decide which one or combination is appealing.
 
Re: The New Office Thread

boston85 said:
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.
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I was thinking about the Inner Belt. If you're going to consider north point, why not the inner belt. You could keep the train line as is and build a new commuter rail station in the middle of the campus serving Lowell and Fitchburg lines, maybe even build a southbound ramp to 93. It might be a hassle to buy out the different lots but the city had no problem doing this on the Union Square GLX site.

Good public transport links, East Somerville GLX, new commuter station, sullivan,
not too far from logan,
access to i93,
close to existing Amazon offices, Kendall/MIT,
blank canvas if it can be organized.
Next door to future northpoint development.
Even smaller things like like the grand junction and somerville community bike paths.
 
If they choose GBA, it's going to be Downtown Boston or Downtown Cambridge. Northpoint sounds doable. I doubt they would do anything deeper into Somerville let alone Newton or Waltham.

Maybe they should talk to GE?

Plus, if they were to locate their HQ in Canada they would need to get visas for all US talent they wanted to hire. Toronto has a lot of top-tier tech talent but it doesn't have nearly as much as Amazon needs. They would need to draw from the US at some point.
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It's apparently very easy to get a foreign worker visa in Canada. Which is why Toronto is high on the list. So that shouldn't be a problem. I do have a question as to whether US or Indian nationals would want to live in such a cold snowy place.
 
Nearly 50 percent of Toronto's population is foreign born.

From Wiki:
The most common reported ethnic origins[3] of Toronto residents are those from England (12.9%), China (12.0%), Canada (11.3%), Ireland (9.7%), Scotland (9.5%), India (7.6%), Italy (6.9%), the Philippines (5.5%), Germany (4.6%), France (4.5%), Poland (3.8%), Portugal (3.6%), and Jamaica (3.2%), or are of Jewish ethnic origin (3.1%). There is also a significant population of Ukrainians (2.5%), Russians (2.4%), Sri Lankans (2.3%), Spaniards (2.2%), Greeks (2.2%), Koreans (1.5%), Dutch (1.5%), Iranians (1.4%), Vietnamese (1.4%), Pakistanis (1.2%), Hungarians (1.2%), Guyanese (1.1%), and Welsh (1.0%).
 
^ How is this related to Amazon's search? Besides, those are ethnic origins, not national origins.
 
I think the Hood park would be a great place for this, could also push for the rutherford ave diet, and really bring that stretch to life. There's also a small piece of 1000' zoning for some people on here

with north point, amazon at hood park, assembly, and wynn we would really have a far north stretching skyline
 
JumboBuc said:
^ How is this related to Amazon's search? Besides, those are ethnic origins, not national origins.
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tangentially. Amazon said they wanted a diverse city.... most US cities have a diverse ethnic make-up so it is a somewhat redundant requirement.
 
jklo said:
If they choose GBA, it's going to be Downtown Boston or Downtown Cambridge. Northpoint sounds doable. I doubt they would do anything deeper into Somerville let alone Newton or Waltham.
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With some of the suggestions I get the sense that some people think that Amazon is looking to slum it just because they might want some tax incentives... their Seattle headquarters is in a prime location and they are pretty clear about wanting something similar.

There are a lot of sizable well located projects around Boston that have moved forward with planning and even gained some approvals, but lack the anchor tenants to make them viable... this doesn't need to be proposed for everyone's favorite challenged pet properties... air rights over the pike, Widett Circle... etc. Amazon is looking to spend a few billion and doesn't want to be shown all the jalopies and red herring projects around town.
 
tangent said:
With some of the suggestions I get the sense that some people think that Amazon is looking to slum it just because they might want some tax incentives... their Seattle headquarters is in a prime location and they are pretty clear about wanting something similar.
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From a practicality standpoint, if Amazon were to be here, most of their workers won't have a car. So a decent spot on the T is a must. They are going to have to give them good incentives regardless.

I'd say the biggest problem for Boston is the lack of housing. Not so much the actual getting of housing but that there are going to be low/no income residents of Boston displaced due to Amazon. And I am sure Amazon's going to want assurances that there won't be any ... complaints ...
 
JumboBuc said:
^ How is this related to Amazon's search? Besides, those are ethnic origins, not national origins.
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You'd need the national origin of the 49 percent of Toronto's population who are foreign born to identify which countries are currently contributing the most to Toronto's melting pot, and I'm too lazy to research that. But given the distribution among many ethnicities, these are likely a pretty good proxy for a 49 percent foreign-born population.

JB is a great champion of immigration reform and immigrants, his stepfather (and namesake) was a Cuban emigre.

This is the diversity of Google's tech workforce: 34% Asian, 1% percent black, 2% Hispanic. In 2014, Facebook's tech workforce was 41 percent Asian, Yahoo's 57 percent.

Amazon has indicated that employment at HQ2 will focus on software engineers. Thus, its interest in a country like Canada which is more welcoming to immigrants than the U.S.

Let's assume 20,000 of Amazon's 50,000 HQ2 employees are techies, and that 8,000 of the techies are Asian. Should one expect the existing/future labor pool in Miami to generate 8,000 ethnic Asian techies over a ten year span?
 
I think costs are going to spike any coastal locations.

In the Midwest, you still have powerful universities in the Big 10 (and U Chicago), and places like Carnegie Mellon, Case Western, Pitt,

I'd rank the cities as:

Chicago (top schools, Boeing's choice for HQ2)
Detroit (complements auto biz in global reach)
Cincinnati (P&G & Macy's and Amazon Air all HQ'd there; key talent in place)
Pittsburg (AI HQ, airport underused)
 
odurandina said:
i would like to see Amazon locate to Downtown/Govt Center/West End w/ west Blue Line branch, NS Rail link completed, etc..... there's room for 7-10M sq ft of development at 4~5 sites. i like Northpoint as a housing resource.
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One Congress at Bulfinch Crossing alone would be a million square feet of space. And Phase III of the Hub on Causeway is another half million square feet. I haven't heard anything about either approved project having tenants to actually get them built.

Those two alone could account for at least the first phase needs of Amazon's HQ2 with the potential for other buildings in the area making up the remainder.
 
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