Amazon HQ2 RFP

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eswwaa said:
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
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Good catch. Good to see Amazon keeping their Boston metro options wide open.

With Amazon reportedly seeking a million square feet in the Seaport it seems like an obvious option for them to look around the Seaport/Fort Point and South Station first. The only downside there was multiple owners to expand in the future, but that shouldn't scare them off. And then I would expect them to look at points in between Seaport and Kendall Square where they also have a presence. The Somerville proposal nicely fills in that medium term need or that 10 to 15 year term need for additional space beyond the first few million square feet.

Suffolk Downs still seems like a longer shot as a standalone campus or main headquarters rather it could be just one among many longer term options around Boston for additional space if and when they need it.
 
The Somerville bid was 3 miles from downtown Boston in the same state. No other proposals were that close together.
 
tysmith95 said:
The Somerville bid was 3 miles from downtown Boston in the same state. No other proposals were that close together.
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Yes, I just was just looking at the Montgomery County sites and was going to post that. In Montgomery County the possible sites are more like 12+ miles from downtown DC locations and more like 18 miles from the DC proposal site. That would be like the distance of Woburn/Burlington (or maybe even Lowell at under 30 miles) to Boston.

Boston really is somewhat unique in the way our downtown is so close to other municipalities to the North especially.
 
Plus the Somerville bid included chunks of Boston. I could see why Amazon saw it as one proposal.

Plus if you're not from the area, Somerville is basically Boston. Calling it Wynn Boston Harbor is a good example. It's not a suburb, it's a neighborhood of Boston that is a separate municipality.
 
tysmith95 said:
Plus the Somerville bid included chunks of Boston. I could see why Amazon saw it as one proposal.

Plus if you're not from the area, Somerville is basically Boston. Calling it Wynn Boston Harbor is a good example. It's not a suburb, it's a neighborhood of Boston that is a separate municipality.
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Important fact that too many on this board forget or fail to see many times.
To the rest of the country, and even those outside 128, it's all Boston.
 
SeamusMcFly said:
Important fact that too many on this board forget or fail to see many times.
To the rest of the country, and even those outside 128, it's all Boston.
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yup, the fact that Boston submitted one bid with 4 or 5 different options and then Somerville submitted another with parts of Boston in theirs is just daft. How they didn't work together on this is beyond me, hopefully they will now, not holding my breath tho.
 
Ruairi said:
yup, the fact that Boston submitted one bid with 4 or 5 different options and then Somerville submitted another with parts of Boston in theirs is just daft. How they didn't work together on this is beyond me, hopefully they will now, not holding my breath tho.
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I think the governor and (more importantly) Amazon will make them work together. Cambridge may not have the option of sitting out this time.
 
stellarfun said:
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?
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I was not suggesting that those cities have good international air service, because they don't. I was speaking to your point that they lack non-stop flights to Seattle. Alaska Airlines has been slowly expanding their network to include second tier cities in the US so cities like Indianapolis, Pittsburgh, Kansas City, etc. are being added to their network.
 
I don't think non-stop flights to Seattle is an issue. Say Amazon picks Columbus, i'm sure that Alaska or Delta/Southwest would start service there.

With Indianapolis, I honestly believe that they are going to be used as a bargaining chip because they probably offered lots of incentives.
 
I would include the CSA that includes Durham and Chapel Hill in the Raleigh numbers, not just Raleigh.
 
tysmith95 said:
I would include the CSA that includes Durham and Chapel Hill in the Raleigh numbers, not just Raleigh.
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Ugh... that's just annoying. I really hope that CSA becomes an MSA in the 2020 Census for data analytic purposes.

FYI, I'm not redoing the map tonight. With only 2.1 million people in the CSA, it ranks bottom of the barrel relative to my chart. Maybe tomorrow.
 
stellarfun said:
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.......
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I'm not completely positive, but isn't the Shady Grove area (where there is a growing medical city going up) a better candidate? - - and it has its own Metro station right there (and, unlike White Flint, it is smack dab in the middle of a massive biotech presence with plenty of extra land to grow). Personally, I'd look at Shady Grove over White Flint (not having to deal with the traffic nightmare of Rockville Pike, better access to Rte 270 and the ICC, therefore quicker access to the airports.

Also, pretty interesting in dshoost's linked table there that the only metro area on that list with a higher % of Bachelors + degrees is, in fact, DC (sort of puts to rest the statement earlier that a techie would not want to live in the DC suburbs).
 
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FenwayResident said:
What about University of Chicago and Northwestern? Or are you only counting flagship state schools to fit your point?
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HAL was developed at the University of Illinois Champaign Urbana. :)

Graduate programs in Computer Sciences,
MIT ranked #2, Univ of Illinois Champaign Urbana #6, Univ of Washington #7, Harvard #18, Brown #20, UMass Amherst #25, Northwestern #34, Rutgers #34, Univ of Chicago #34, Boston University #48, Northeastern #60, Tufts #70

https://www.usnews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-science-schools/computer-science-rankings/page+3

Graduate programs in Computer Engineering,
MIT ranked #1, University of Illinois, Champaign Urbana #2 (tied), University of Washington #9 (Precise Rankings below #9 require payment) Harvard #12 or 13, Northwestern tanked in the 20s.....

https://www.usnews.com/best-graduat...er-engineering-rankings?int=9d0e08&int=a06908
 
shmessy, I was going by White Flint because White Flint was what Bethesda Magazine guessed the site to be. Shady Grove Metro to Dulles is 31 miles; Google maps says current traffic makes the trip about one hour long. Shady Grove to University of Maryland College Park is 20 miles. The University of Maryland appears to be the only reasonably high ranked 'computer' school in the metro DC area.
 
FenwayResident said:
Not sure if the data for this exists, but I think # of post-grad degrees in STEM fields would be a better indicator. Maybe just # of post-grad degrees in general if there isn't a field-by-field split?
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I agree and am currently seeking it out. Apparently “IPEDS” has that data...
 
fattony said:
I think the governor and (more importantly) Amazon will make them work together. Cambridge may not have the option of sitting out this time.
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Would be great to see – the implications would be fantastic.
 
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