How's the public transit there? I was under the impression that this was a major piece of the puzzle for HQ2.
Amazon HQ2: Advanced talks about second headquarters in Northern Virginia
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Re: Amazon HQ2: Advanced talks about second headquarters in Northern Virginia
#12Noooooooooooo, this is going to completely destroy an already broken transit system.
Re: Amazon HQ2: Advanced talks about second headquarters in Northern Virginia
#13Just a stones throw away from Washington DC, imagine that. I’m sure it’s no coincidence that Amazon is in talks to do billions of dollars worth of work with the DOD and that the location choice of the second headquarters might have a lot to do with that.
Also, Bezos’s interests in Blue Origin and the Washington Post. Oh, and he has a mansion in DC: https://www.washingtonian.com/2018/04/22/inside-jeff-bezos-d...
Or it could be that AWS contract for the Pentagon... literally across the street (highway) from Crystal City (Pentagon City).
Re: Amazon HQ2: Advanced talks about second headquarters in Northern Virginia
#14I have heard that the HQ2 is supposed to be a kind of "domed city." If it is Crystal City, Amazon HQ2 has started a infrastructure formation using a subscription with a DCaaS.
Re: Amazon HQ2: Advanced talks about second headquarters in Northern Virginia
#15How long will it take them to set up shop? My wife and I want to buy a house in the area in a couple years.
Re: Amazon HQ2: Advanced talks about second headquarters in Northern Virginia
#16How's the public transit there? I was under the impression that this was a major piece of the puzzle for HQ2.
Metro used to be very good. Today it’s..... ehhhhhhhh, not so much.
Re: Amazon HQ2: Advanced talks about second headquarters in Northern Virginia
#17Just a stones throw away from Washington DC, imagine that. I’m sure it’s no coincidence that Amazon is in talks to do billions of dollars worth of work with the DOD and that the location choice of the second headquarters might have a lot to do with that.
Crystal City really has so much going for it:
1. As you point out, right next to Pentagon and federal government. 2. Good transportation: right on the Metro and literally across the street from National Airport. 3. If you're going to have 2 headquarters, having them be on opposite coasts makes sense. 4. And I think another one that is pretty unique to Crystal City is that Amazon and their employees definitely want to be in a downtown, urban environment. However, most of the other cities on the list were either extremely crowded downtown, available sites were actually more out in the 'burbs, or the cities were far down in what a lot of people would consider "2nd tier" (or 3rd tier) cities. Crystal City is basically an urban suburb of DC that you could easily see having a great "vibe" for an HQ2, but still has room for Amazon to build out.
Re: Amazon HQ2: Advanced talks about second headquarters in Northern Virginia
#18The traffic and congestion is already horrible. The cost of living is excessive. I don't understand why these companies - that can locate anywhere - want to lessen the quality of life for their employees.
Why would they want their hq out in the boonies? And amazon (and many other tech companies) adjust their salary to cost of life in the area.
The closer they are to a big city, the better, because they can attract more talent from the people already living close by.
Re: Amazon HQ2: Advanced talks about second headquarters in Northern Virginia
#19How's the public transit there? I was under the impression that this was a major piece of the puzzle for HQ2.
The metro is trying to improve the safety of the system after some fatal accidents a few years ago. The work force is unmotivated and maintainence reports are falsified. The wait times for the weekend suck and the system shuts down pretty early leading to fans at sports stadiums chanting, “metro sucks.”
Even with all that it’s one of the better transit systems in the US. Not as good as Chicago or NY, but for the size of city it’s good.
Re: Amazon HQ2: Advanced talks about second headquarters in Northern Virginia
#20How's the public transit there? I was under the impression that this was a major piece of the puzzle for HQ2.
There is one Metro stop directly in Crystal City, an express bus with dedicated lanes from another close station, and Metro is in the final planning stages to build a new station between those. The VRE, a Virginia light rail system that uses Amtrak tracks, has a stop in Crystal City. There are bus routes too, and bike lanes. And Reagan National Airport is directly adjacent.
Public transit to Crystal City is about as good as it gets. Which is good, because the road traffic sucks.