Amazon HQ2 RFP

[Rover]

Newark will get crushed if they're picked.

Newark: 281,764
Worcester: 184,508
Providence: 179,219

I'm guessing the only reason Newark is in the game is due to that 7Bn or 7 Trillion or whatever obscene amount of dollars they're throwing at Amazon is. Gives Amazon leverage to squeeze other cities.

 

[FenwayResident]

Newark will get crushed if they're picked.

Newark: 281,764
Worcester: 184,508
Providence: 179,219

Unlike the three tiny cities from New England that I mentioned, Newark isL

1) Less than 10 miles from the largest city in the USA
2) 20 minutes to Midtown Manhattan via rail
3) Has a major international airport

It's not even close to being comparable.

 

[fattony]

Unlike the three tiny cities from New England that I mentioned, Newark is less than 10 miles from the largest city in the USA, is 20 minutes to Penn Station via rail, and has a major international airport. It's not even close to being comparable.

I agree, being part of a 20 million person metro area puts Newark in a very different boat from Worcester and Providence. I'm not very familiar, but I think Newark would score pretty poorly on public transit, no? PATH to NYC, but what else? Is local transit just buses?

 

[shmessy]

You DO realize jouhou has his/her location as Portsmouth, New Hampshire, which isn't exactly the Boston suburbs, right?

Now kindly tell us about Bezos BIG mistake not choosing Baltimore over places like Indy and Columbus which did make the list.

What is wrong with your complete lack of reading comprehension?

He was comparing the DC suburbs to the Boston suburbs. He made no mention of where HE lived.....and not to put words in his mouth (which is something only people like YOU do), I presume Jouhou would agree he wasn't referring to Portsmouth in his post at all.

You continually make a game out of taking people's posts completely out of context and trying to create strawmen arguments. Let me guess, you used to be an annoying younger sibling growing up?

Whatever, you are taking away from a good discussion where there is good back and forth and information being learned with whatever gamesmanship you feel is important.

 

[shmessy]

Unlike the three tiny cities from New England that I mentioned, Newark isL

1) Less than 10 miles from the largest city in the USA
2) 20 minutes to Midtown Manhattan via rail
3) Has a major international airport

It's not even close to being comparable.

+1. Exactly. Add in the $5 billion and Newark should not be taken lightly in this.

 

[FenwayResident]

I agree, being part of a 20 million person metro area puts Newark in a very different boat from Worcester and Providence. I'm not very familiar, but I think Newark would score pretty poorly on public transit, no? PATH to NYC, but what else? Is local transit just buses?

PATH to World Trade Center; NJ Transit to Penn Station; and Amtrak to Philadelphia, DC and Boston. So there's a one-seat ride to Midtown and Downtown, with almost anywhere else accessible via a single transfer. There's also buses to the Port Authority which connects to the Times Square subway station.

 

[Equilibria]

Unlike the three tiny cities from New England that I mentioned, Newark isL

1) Less than 10 miles from the largest city in the USA
2) 20 minutes to Midtown Manhattan via rail
3) Has a major international airport

It's not even close to being comparable.

Yeah, but he's right. Without the massive subsidies, Newark wouldn't be on the list.

 

[stellarfun]

The specification was a site within 45 minutes of an international airport with daily, direct flights to Seattle, San Francisco (Bay area), New York, and Washington DC.

That knocks out Nashville, Columbus, Indianapolis, Pittsburgh.

From North Bethesda MD (White Flint Mall) to BWI is 35+ miles, to Dulles is about 25 miles. BWI is probably outside the 45 minute mark. Other than the demolished White Flint Mall site there are no large tracts of land near or adjacent to Metro in Montgomery County.
_______________________

Looking at Dallas, the only universities of note are TCU and SMU. The U of Texas schools in/near Dallas are not the top tierr schools in the Univ of Texas system.

 

[jass]

I agree, being part of a 20 million person metro area puts Newark in a very different boat from Worcester and Providence. I'm not very familiar, but I think Newark would score pretty poorly on public transit, no? PATH to NYC, but what else? Is local transit just buses?

Newark has its very own subway system AND a monorail

 

[JumboBuc]

Amazon should've just released this short list when they first announced their HQ2 intentions and saved a bunch of time, money, and effort for the hundreds of cities that were obviously never going to be chosen but still submitted bids anyway.

 

[FenwayResident]

Amazon should've just released this short list when they first announced their HQ2 intentions and saved a bunch of time, money, and effort for the hundreds of cities that were obviously never going to be chosen but still submitted bids anyway.

A funny Bloomberg article on this subject:

Amazon's Rejects Groveled for Months Only to Be Left Out in Cold

Disappointment sent a chill through Winnipeg this morning as it learned it was one of 200-plus losers in the Amazon HQ2 sweepstakes.

Disappointment, and eyelash-freezing weather.

Was it the Canadian city’s January average of 3 degrees Fahrenheit (-16 Celsius) that persuaded Amazon to look elsewhere? A warm climate isn’t listed among the criteria the company used to whittle down the possibilities to 20 locations, 19 of which are in the U.S. Judging by the list of winners, though, it didn’t hurt.

But not too warm! Las Vegas didn’t make the cut either.

The derby for 50,000 decent-paying jobs made some locales do strange things, some of which bordered on groveling. But they turned out to be losing strategies.

 

[tangent]

The specification was a site within 45 minutes of an international airport with daily, direct flights to Seattle, San Francisco (Bay area), New York, and Washington DC.

That knocks out Nashville, Columbus, Indianapolis, Pittsburgh.

From North Bethesda MD (White Flint Mall) to BWI is 35+ miles, to Dulles is about 25 miles. BWI is probably outside the 45 minute mark. Other than the demolished White Flint Mall site there are no large tracts of land near or adjacent to Metro in Montgomery County.

Maybe eventually... but the short list is from Amazon and they apparently found the proposals and locations interesting enough to make the cut for further consideration and not meeting those particular criteria didn't knock them out.

 

[Equilibria]

Maybe eventually... but the short list is from Amazon and they apparently found the proposals and locations interesting enough to make the cut for further consideration and not meeting those particular criteria didn't knock them out.

The shortlist for Amazon isn't really 20 cities long. It's NYC, DC (in one of the 3 states involved), Philly, Chicago, Atlanta, Dallas, Boston, and maybe Raleigh. The others are just there to fill out a 20 city list and to try to put some pressure on the big guns to up their benefits.

Amazon should've just released this short list when they first announced their HQ2 intentions and saved a bunch of time, money, and effort for the hundreds of cities that were obviously never going to be chosen but still submitted bids anyway.

Wouldn't have served their purpose. This was meant to show off their power - how many cities desperately want Amazon - and to gather information for use in future smaller expansions.

 

[Rover]

Amazon should've just released this short list when they first announced their HQ2 intentions and saved a bunch of time, money, and effort for the hundreds of cities that were obviously never going to be chosen but still submitted bids anyway.

Its all part of the negotiations, and Amazon got what they wanted. By opening it up to everywhere, some city or cities were going to make an obnoxious proposal thanks to brainless politicians. Chris Christie, come on down! Newark stepped up with a huge offer, and now Bezos has that in his back pocket when he tries to squeeze the cities he actually wants to locate in (San Antonio's mayor reasoned the same thing when he declined to submit a bid - they already know where they're going). If Amazon continues to whittle down the list before choosing a winner, expect Newark to stay on it right up to the final decision.

 

[mass88]

DC suburbs have it ALL over the Boston suburbs if you are talking lifestyle, cost, climate, ease of transportation, etc. And they hold right at the same level when it comes to public schools and the education levels of its taxpayers.

And their counties have far higher median incomes (with lower housing costs!) than Norfolk and Middlesex counties.

If I'm a Boston suburbanite, I am not looking down my nose at the DC suburbs at all. There's a reason I left Newton for Montgomery County (although, I hope to retire to a highrise in Boston - - working and raising a family in the DC suburbs is pretty nice).

By the way, I have clients I visit once a year in Dublin, OH - - just outside of Columbus. Pretty nice area there and a very efficient little airport. Location (not on a coast) is probably the biggest drawback.

Of course that is just your opinion.

 

[mass88]

The specification was a site within 45 minutes of an international airport with daily, direct flights to Seattle, San Francisco (Bay area), New York, and Washington DC.

That knocks out Nashville, Columbus, Indianapolis, Pittsburgh.

From North Bethesda MD (White Flint Mall) to BWI is 35+ miles, to Dulles is about 25 miles. BWI is probably outside the 45 minute mark. Other than the demolished White Flint Mall site there are no large tracts of land near or adjacent to Metro in Montgomery County.
_______________________

Looking at Dallas, the only universities of note are TCU and SMU. The U of Texas schools in/near Dallas are not the top tierr schools in the Univ of Texas system.

Nashville has daily non-stops flights to Seattle by Alaska and Delta. Indianapolis has daily non-stop flights to Seattle by Alaska. Pittsburgh will have daily non-stop flights to Seattle once Alaska starts the route in the fall.

 

[stellarfun]

Maybe eventually... but the short list is from Amazon and they apparently found the proposals and locations interesting enough to make the cut for further consideration and not meeting those particular criteria didn't knock them out.

I agree, generally.

According to the NY Times, there were only about a dozen people on the selection team, staffed with HR people, economists, and Amazon real estate people. Bezos participated.

Most of the bids were quickly cast aside. I think some of the 20 are still there, simply for consideration as a site for a future Amazon facility other than HQ2.
________________
Amazon stated that a "a strong university system is required."
[Bolding mine.] How close must that system be? The University of Washington is in Seattle, ....if that is a measure of preferred proximity.
Champaign Urbana is 140 miles from Chicago.

 

[stellarfun]

Nashville has daily non-stops flights to Seattle by Alaska and Delta. Indianapolis has daily non-stop flights to Seattle by Alaska. Pittsburgh will have daily non-stop flights to Seattle once Alaska starts the route in the fall.

And the international destinations for these airports are?

Montreal is the world leader in 'deep learning'. HQ2 almost certainly will have a focus on 'deep learning'. How many flights to Montreal from not only these airports, but from others on the list?

 

[FenwayResident]

Amazon stated that a "a strong university system is required."
[Bolding mine.] How close must that system be? The University of Washington is in Seattle, ....if that is a measure of preferred proximity.
Champaign Urbana is 140 miles from Chicago.

What about University of Chicago and Northwestern? Or are you only counting flagship state schools to fit your point?

 

[eswwaa]

Apparently Somerville made the cut too...

It's not just Boston: Somerville bid also included on Amazon’s HQ2 short list

https://www.bizjournals.com/boston/...just-boston-somerville-bid-also-included.html