Amazon HQ2 selected - and not Boston

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Re: Suffolk Downs Redevelopment

i don't think Suffolk Downs is a loser per se...... i also happen to like HYM, and the superlative planning they are doing at the site.

BUT for Amazon, i have been sure that in lieu of Boston as currently configured (re; no West End planning for the Monoliths--to congregate w/ Kendall), only South Station ever held the appropriately large candle to stand before Amazon.

There are 2 brutally honest, contemptuous comments put down in the Globe this evening: the first, if taken to its logical endpoint, and uttered above a whisper–hits close to home.... Could be sufficient for a lifetime ban from Boston development. The second point possibly gained steam after the agenda-driven Globe made such issue of it.

Globe said:
The Boston Group that devised the bid was not thinking about what was good for Amazon but instead, what could they do with that land near the tank farm over on the way out of Boston. If you are Amazon, that was very clear from the start."
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Globe said:
I wonder if the people in the other finalist cities were as negative about Amazon moving there as they are here in Boston. Since this proposal came forth the comments seem to have been against them coming to Boston instead of a welcoming thought.

If you are Amazon and saw the comments you would have gotten the stereotypical picture of negative Boston to add to the already racist image, that exists. Why they even chant Yankee's suck when they play in Boston.
The potential for 50 thousand jobs with higher end incomes to spend with them, The boost to the local businesses, the additional jobs to service that gradual influx of people who would gradually build their workforce, none of that appealing to Bostonians,

I just wonder if that committee at Amazon ever discussed the personality of Boston. ...It sure seems like most people didn't want the progress Amazon would bring, they only saw problems and change they didn't like.
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Wouldn't it be a thing if Boston's tech/nano-technology/ & robotics sector exploded to render Amazon a moot point?
 
Re: Suffolk Downs Redevelopment

odurandina said:
There are 2 brutally honest, contemptuous comments put down in the Globe this evening: the first, if taken to its logical endpoint, and uttered above a whisper–hits close to home....
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I hope Suffolk Downs eventually lives up to the vision put forward in the HQ2 and HYM proposals. I just don't think it was a good fit proposal for Amazon HQ2.

Suffolk ticked a bunch of boxes and might have been good for some overflow future capacity, but didn't really highlight our prime real estate opportunities in Kendall, the Seaport and places around there and in between where Amazon has clearly already chosen to be located.
 
Re: Suffolk Downs Redevelopment

I'm betting that if Boston doesn't get HQ2, it will get the richest Amazon programmatic plum AI, and perhaps a second (Amazon health).

USN&WR's ranking of AI programs, top 20.

Boston and beyond
MIT 2
UMass Amherst 11
Harvard 18

Bay area Bezos chose not to go up against Google / Facebook in the Bay area.
Stanford 3
Cal Berkeley 4

Seattle Already covered.
Univ of Washington 5

Metro Washington
Univ of Maryland 16

(Carnegie Mellon is ranked #1).
 
Re: Suffolk Downs Redevelopment

vanshnookenraggen said:
The urban design of the area reminds me of the old Fenway, which I like. But the architecture reminds me of the new Fenway, which is boring and monotonous at this scale.
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And I don't remember 30+ gas tanks in the Fenway.

Honestly, I can't imagine Bezos salivating over that abutting NY Turnpike-like paradise.

If I'm Amazon, I would make relocation of that stuff a prerequisite for even BEGINNING consideration.

.
 
Re: Suffolk Downs Redevelopment

odurandina said:
Wouldn't it be a thing if Boston's tech/nano-technology/ & robotics sector exploded to render Amazon a moot point?
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B-I-N-G-O.

Further to my previous post, just because Amazon won't see that area as meeting its ultimate goal doesn't mean 75 other companies won't.

And, personally, I'd rather 75 companies grow and locate there than one huge H2Q. I want Boston to land those 50K high paying jobs, but balance and diversification are prefereable to becoming a company town.
 
Re: Suffolk Downs Redevelopment

^ Exactly. Hit the nail on the head. We dont need Amazon they need us. Put me down as another one whod much rather see 75 tech companies locate over here vs the minimum wage monopoly that is Amazon. Lets get a ton of Boston tech companies located over here, who knows maybe the next Amazon will even grow out of here, one that treats humans with dignity.... thats muuuuch better than the singular Amazon locating here any day. We dont need them at all this will move along nicely without them and ultimately benefit the city 10 fold over what Amazon alone would have. In no way shape or form should we have to bend over backwards for them, this will be much better off without them. Screw having the “Chinese car factory” model where workers live, work, eat, and play all in one spot like Amazon does. Having many different companies here mixed with condos apartments and parks will be much healthier. Good riddance.
 
Re: Suffolk Downs Redevelopment

stick n move said:
^ Exactly. ,,,,, Good riddance.
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I think Boston is stuck with 8-10,000 Amazon employees, minimum, given their space commitments / options in the Seaport, and elsewhere. Amazon currently lists 379 job openings in Boston / Cambridge. (7864 job openings in Seattle!!!!!!)

Google has over 3x as many job openings in Seattle as it does in Boston / Cambridge.
 
Re: Suffolk Downs Redevelopment

Amazon chooses Washington DC for HQ2......

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2018/11...-washington/axEFMDWG0NKRroCOdsNMrI/story.html

Boston should have won easily; except it was determined to be a 2nd rate, shadow-restricted, nimby stranglehold, w/ its future delineated by crushing debt, moribund public unions, and challenged infrastructure....

With a united front type presentation, South Station area or the West End could have won in a landslide–except, there existed no set development parameters (re; skyscraper plan) to help business understand the capacity of Downtown Boston...

& BNSF ain't walking through that door to run our woeful, crumbling, rail transportation network.... and not enough nimby's have been exiled to New Bedford.

The Suffolk Downs proposal was someone's version of a great idea.... Unfortunately it wasn't (Amazon's) version of a great idea, or anyone possessing a clear view of reality. It doesn't come as a surprise to those who derided this crazy idea, and warned of its delusion–from the beginning.


*The BNSF reference; When NASA began killing its astronauts, an independent council determined drastic changes in it's management structure and philosophy was needed.
 
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Re: Suffolk Downs Redevelopment

odurandina said:
Amazon chooses Washington DC for HQ2......

Branch-office Boston exposed as a 2nd rate, crumbling, infrastructurally challenged, nimby, shadow-restricted cow pasture......

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2018/11...-washington/axEFMDWG0NKRroCOdsNMrI/story.html
Boston could have won in a landslide,
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People said the same thing about Boston's various failed/quit Olympics bids, and I didn't see the validity of letting a single procurement spectacle somehow validate all other prejudices.
 
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Re: Suffolk Downs Redevelopment

See edit/s.

i chose poorly striking the right tone to describe Boston's latest fiasco.
 
Re: Suffolk Downs Redevelopment

odurandina said:
Amazon chooses Washington DC for HQ2......

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2018/11...-washington/axEFMDWG0NKRroCOdsNMrI/story.html

Boston should have won easily; except it was determined to be a 2nd rate, shadow-restricted, nimby stranglehold, w/ its future delineated by crushing debt, moribund public unions, and challenged infrastructure....

.
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Is it dawning on you YET that your building height obsession is misplaced and that this city needs to set the table (transportation) before eating dinner?????

Boston SHOULD have won this. However, however when it comes to transportation infrastructure Boston's/Massachusetts' "planners" all suddenly turn into Sam Brownbeck.



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Re: Suffolk Downs Redevelopment

The Globe failed to report that the Post's sources can't confirm if there are similar discussions happening in other cities. While its increasingly likely to go to Virginia, its also not "finalized," and there could be similar discussions happening in rivaling cities. I would classify questions like "how quickly could we get several hundred employees moved in" as collecting data to compare. Bezos was quoted last week saying he and the company will follow their gut based off the data they collect.


I should say, however, that they are mentioning that real estate firms are taking their listings off the market in Crystal City, so they could be in further discussions than what those in the know want to admit to/leak.
 
Re: Suffolk Downs Redevelopment

In the meantime whowouldathunkit that those fuel tanks bordering the Suffolk Downs proposal would be seen by Amazon as something less than world-class/iconic? :rolleyes:
 
Re: Suffolk Downs Redevelopment

I think Crystal City is a good pick for Amazon. Way out by Dulles never made sense to me.

The defense industry better get ready for a shake-up in salaries. Its going to steadily get more expensive to find software engineers in DC and harder to retain the ones they have. Actually, because of the pay differential between commercial and defense, it will be interesting to see if this drives as many engineering jobs out of the area as it brings in.
 
Re: Suffolk Downs Redevelopment

shmessy said:
Is it dawning on you YET that your building height obsession is misplaced......
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Amazon is the size of corporation you'd normally see expanding in Manhattan, Los Angeles or San Francisco; My interpretation brought me to 1 or 2 signature tower/s, not unlike Salesforce, downsloping at the edge of Downtown, into an established lab district. We have that capacity (ideally) at North Station/West End area/ downsloping to Kendall, or the South Station (area) & the Seaport, +/- Dot Ave, with a sizable presence in Kendall Square.

Of course, Boston should have won. Getting near a real conversation of why Boston didn't win, involves going back to this fundamental problem--of not having a large-scale plan in place. Other questions need to be asked. But for anyone brave enough to ask some really tough/ appropriate questions, they would be well served to have their bags packed.

Amazon will be here..... included in a big part of their operations, will be to move talent out of Boston to DC.

Of course, they should have had their parameters lying in some vault years ago that include 700-900' towers. It's the 21st Century for Christ's sakes..
 
Re: Suffolk Downs Redevelopment

Well, Amazon isn't going to be building any skyscapers in Crystal City either, so pretty much every word you've typed about towers is completely wrong.

The biggest strike against Boston is the housing crisis. Amazon doesn't want to walk into the exact same problem they are dealing with in Seattle. There would be tremendous ill-will toward them from the public here because of their exacerbating the housing crisis. If we didn't have such a dysfunctional housing market, it would be hard to pass up on us. Obviously they haven't passed on us completely.

You can't say transit was a significant problem because WMATA is as bad or worse than the MBTA and I don't know they have the significant fixes in the pipeline that we have.
 
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