Amazon HQ2 RFP

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Pittsburgh is a dark horse because its colors are already the Amazon colors.

Steelers
Pens
Pirates
Prime.

Jokes aside,

I think we compare favorably to Philly, but both of us could lose to the East Coast major-minors. By that I mean, in its region, Philadelphia is it. Boston is it. But going to Baltimore gives you a city you can remake in your own image while still being close enough to DC for that to matter. JB doesn't have to move, you have multiple airports to choose from, housing and land are cheaper than the big brother city, etc. Ditto, Northern New Jersey. Close enough to New York for employees to catch all the culture, three major airports, and a chance to transform the actual host city.

Boston and Philly don't "catch" any other major players. I think they're all strong candidates still though.
 
I'm amused by what people talk themselves into. Some cities have cheaper housing and available land for some pretty horrific reasons. For example, Detroit, Gary, Buffalo, Toledo, and Baltimore have plenty of land and housing, but that's because the people who used to live there are clearing out in droves (or in Baltimore's case being murdered). That's not exactly a selling point, is it? How would Baltimore make a case vs another city with cheap land and housing, such as Charlotte, Atlanta, or Austin among others, that aren't filled with urban blight?

Also, I've thawed a little bit on Philly, but I can't see the Navy Yard working. Its a worse location than Suffolk Downs but from what I understand the only spot that has the available land. Otherwise it doesn't seem to lead in any categories (educated workforce, cost, public transit, etc) but also isn't near the bottom of any of them either which gives it a puncher's chance.
 
^^this

I don't necessarily worry about Newark winning. i worry a lot about New Jersey winning. A counter proposal involving some combination of the vast area comprising Secaucus, Meadowlands, Jersey City, Bayonne, Hoboken, etc could win this thing easily. Hell, the area near Rahway, Elizabeth, Liberty Airport could win. Basically anywhere along the NEC right of way between Princeton and Secaucus Junction.
 
odurandina said:
^^this

I don't necessarily worry about Newark winning. i worry a lot about New Jersey winning. A counter proposal involving some combination of the vast area comprising Secaucus, Meadowlands, Jersey City, Bayonne, Hoboken, etc could win this thing easily. Hell, the area near Rahway, Elizabeth, Liberty Airport could win. Basically anywhere along the NEC right of way between Princeton and Secaucus Junction.
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Throw it in the old Roche property. Done.

Not a good idea, but nutley would be thrilled.
 
It might be useful to review several of Amazon's specs:

Labor Force – The Project includes significant employment requirements at the threshold compensation levels described herein [average annual total compensation exceeding one hundred thousand dollars] and with corresponding educational attainment of the available workforce. The Project must be sufficiently close to a significant population center, such that it can fill the 50,000 estimated jobs that will be required over multiple years. A highly educated labor pool is critical and a strong university system is required.

Cultural Community Fit – The Project requires a compatible cultural and community environment for its long-term success. This includes the presence and support of a diverse population, excellent institutions of higher education, local government structure and elected officials eager and willing to work with the company, among other attributes. A stable and consistent business climate is important to Amazon. Please demonstrate characteristics of this in your response. We encourage testimonials from other large companies.

Sustainability. …Amazon’s newest buildings use a ‘District Energy’ system that utilizes recycled heat from a nearby non-Amazon data center to heat millions of square feet of office space – a system that is about 4x more efficient than traditional heating. This system is designed to allow Amazon to warm just over 4 million square feet of office space on Amazon’s four-block campus, saving 80 million kilowatt-hours over 20 years, or about 4 million kilowatt-hours a year. We also invest in large solar and wind operations and were the largest corporate purchaser of renewable energy in the U.S. in 2016. Amazon will develop HQ2 with a dedication to sustainability.
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With respect to a "stable and consistent business climate", I read that as including a stable tax situation at the state and local level, as well as government revenue and spending. In that regard, there is New Jersey:

http://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2017/04/us_public_pension_debt_rises_157b_with_help_from_n.html
 
Re: Apple. Axios reports that the location won't be in Texas or California. Apple already has 6,000 employees in Austin. (That many Apple employees in Austin could be a negative when it comes to Amazon HQ2.) I'll bet good money thaT Apple will not choose the same city that Amazon chooses for HQ2.
 
The Apple campus will be IT and IT Support. I'm thinking a low cost location.
 
- Atlanta, GA

- Austin, TX

- Boston, MA

- Chicago, IL

- Columbus, OH

- Dallas, TX

- Denver, CO

- Indianapolis, IN

- Los Angeles, CA

- Miami, FL

- Montgomery County, MD

- Nashville, TN

- Newark, NJ

- New York City, NY

- Northern Virginia, VA

- Philadelphia, PA

- Pittsburgh, PA

- Raleigh, NC

- Toronto, ON

- Washington D.C.
 
dshoost88 said:
Amazon releases short list

Boston makes the list.
Baltimore does not; however, 3 bids around Metro DC appear to have made the cut.
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Nothing surprising here at first glance except for maybe some of the suburban counties around DC being included as well. For example had no idea Montgomery County submitted its own bid.

Places like Baltimore never had any hope, although that won't stop shmessy from calling up Bezos and telling him he's a fuking idiot! :D
 
That short list isn't very short. So if I was a tech worker, places i wouldn't want to live on that list: indianapolis, dc suburbs, columbus, dallas, los angeles.
 
Rover said:
Nothing surprising here at first glance except for maybe some of the suburban counties around DC being included as well. For example had no idea Montgomery County submitted its own bid.

Places like Baltimore never had any hope, although that won't stop shmessy from calling up Bezos and telling him he's a fuking idiot! :D
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Regarding Montgomery County, not much detail available.
http://www.bethesdamagazine.com/Bet...d-in-Its-Bid-for-Amazons-Second-Headquarters/

The local mag wasn't able to uncover much in the way of details. A possible site, a former mall, does not have the 100 acres.
 
That short list is basically "the only cities that realistically had a chance" (RIP Baltimore, Worcester) instead of providing any useful information. The only major metros I see missing from it are San Francisco and Houston. I don't think anyone expected SF to be in the running, but quite a few people including myself were throwing Houston around as a potential spot.
 
So, if you recall the problem Amazon was having in Seattle was there were no more workers to gobble up. To me that says they would need to operate an equal sized HQ in a similar or larger city than Seattle. Well, Seattle's CSA is the country's 13th largest. In order, the regions with a greater population that are on the top 20 list are: NYC metro (NYC and Newark from the list), LA, Chicago, DC metro (DC, N VA, Montgomery County), Boston, Dallas, Philly, Miami, and Atlanta. I'd suspect for this reason these 9 regions are the primary contenders.

FWIW - Houston, SF, and Detroit are the other regions larger than Seattle but which aren't on the list.
 
FenwayResident said:
That short list is basically "the only cities that realistically had a chance" (RIP Baltimore, Worcester) instead of providing any useful information. The only major metros I see missing from it are San Francisco and Houston. I don't think anyone expected SF to be in the running, but quite a few people including myself were throwing Houston around as a potential spot.
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I agree, this list is extremely disappointing and contains very little information.
 
Jouhou said:
That short list isn't very short. So if I was a tech worker, places i wouldn't want to live on that list: indianapolis, dc suburbs, columbus, dallas, los angeles.
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Much of Northern VA and Montgomery County are well served by the DC Metro. if the job is sited well near a Metro station, you could easily live in the District or the opposite side of the metro area (e.g. live in Arlington, work in Montgomery County) if you wanted.
 
dshoost88 said:
Amazon releases short list

Boston makes the list.
Baltimore does not; however, 3 bids around Metro DC appear to have made the cut.
Click to expand...

OMG! Actual news from this thread!

They did do something here. Eliminated the whole West Coast north of LA. Houston isn't on here. Actually, only Dallas, Austin, Denver, and LA are even west of the Mississippi. Most of the other 16 finalists are on the East Coast (which says a lot).

There's no love here for Houston, Charlotte, Cleveland, Cincinnati, St. Louis and KC (but there is for Indianapolis, interestingly). This is the complete list of innovation centers. I think that puts Boston in a solid position, since it goes against the idea that affordability mattered very much (if it did, why include Montgomery County over Baltimore?).

Also, it's unclear whether Amazon means "Metropolitan Areas" or "proposals". DC, MD, and VA get separate points likely because they're in different states that will offer different incentive packages (same goes for NYC and Newark). "Boston" as rendered here could theoretically include Somerville and Cambridge as well.

Just our daily reminder, too, that Boston is getting 1M SF of Amazon regardless of this process.

hero-1500900-hq2candidates.jpg
 
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