A second tier Midwestern(ish) city could be a good option. Cleveland and Pittsburgh would be good choices, assuming the relocation induces more flight availability from CLE and PIT. Case and CMU produce a lot of tech grads, and Cleveland has been successful attracting medical professionals to relocate with its excellent hospital system. The housing stock, CoL, and cultural amenities are excellent. Pittsburgh already has a few bigtech connections and satellite offices. Columbus and Minneapolis would also fit the bill.
Few Cities Could Accommodate Amazon's New Headquarters
101–110 of 118 posts
Re: Few Cities Could Accommodate Amazon's New Headquarters
#102Earlier quoted context omitted.
What might kill Atlanta for AMZN - besides certain problems with traffic and sociopolitical climate (we have probably the largest Confederate memorial in the US called Stone Mountain) - is WHERE Atlanta (itself not an especially large political jurisdiction) would probably like AMZN to build - south of I-20 which is not where most people would want to work or live right now. Obtaining the land would probably be the e…
If suburban ATL is in the mix, what about the old GM plant in Doraville?
That site is being developed as Assembly Yards: http://assemblyyards.com/
But I think it could be a good pick since its still under development. The only major tenant I've read about is Serta moving their HQ there.
The only downside I can think of is this is not in the city center, but that is on their nice to have list on the RFP.
There are three other areas I could see if Atlanta was to be considered. (There are likely more but to me these stand out).
First, the Downtown area. I think development there could get the most tax credits and their is a surprising amount of vacant or under utilized land. I don't know enough detail but I would assume that "The Gulch" area and/or "Underground Atlanta" area could be potential sites since they are both up for redevelopment currently.
Second, Midtown could be a good contender. There seems to be potential for redevelopment around North Ave and Civic Center stations. I think the Civic Center is vacant currently and could be a large enough site, but doesn't have direct access to the rail station.
Third, Sandy Springs/Dunwoody. Looking at the area around the Dunwoody Marta station specifically. I know I've seen some master plans for that area online and they could fit the bill. The new State Farms HQ there was able to get direct access to the Marta station (I think). The site where AJC is or the shopping centers with Best Buy would work. It seems that Mercedes Benz was able to get a good deal for moving to this area. There are already a lot of large companies with HQs in this area and its close to desirable areas for executives. (similar to Assembly Yards its not in the city center)
My personal pick would be for Midtown, since I think that the most desirable area and employees would like it better, but the more I think about it, I think Downtown makes more sense for what Amazon is looking for and COA would likely be willing to make a better deal for a major development there.
Re: Few Cities Could Accommodate Amazon's New Headquarters
#103Atlanta is a great choice for all reasons mentioned by others and such a move would go a long way towards solving tech's diversity problem.
Re: Few Cities Could Accommodate Amazon's New Headquarters
#104Earlier quoted context omitted.
Houston. Low Taxes. Low Cost of Living. International Airport. Major Port. Plenty of Housing. Universities.
Low-lying land! Surely you must be joking?
I think you are getting unfairly downvoted here. Clearly low-lying land is a serious concern for any entity with a long-term planning horizon. Most floodzone land should be left for low development, such as farming.
Re: Few Cities Could Accommodate Amazon's New Headquarters
#105I hope they pick Atlanta but I doubt techies want to live in the South.
What might kill Atlanta for AMZN - besides certain problems with traffic and sociopolitical climate (we have probably the largest Confederate memorial in the US called Stone Mountain) - is WHERE Atlanta (itself not an especially large political jurisdiction) would probably like AMZN to build - south of I-20 which is not where most people would want to work or live right now. Obtaining the land would probably be the e…
> "sociopolitical climate (we have probably the largest Confederate memorial in the US called Stone Mountain)"
The thing about Atlanta is inside of the perimeter is almost just like any other multi-cultural and socially-liberal coastal metropolitan area.
Re: Few Cities Could Accommodate Amazon's New Headquarters
#106Earlier quoted context omitted.
Minneapolis would definitely be a great choice. For those that don't know Minneapolis like the parent commenter and I do: - Amazon already has an engineering office in Minneapolis. Check out some of the jobs here. - Amazon has a fulfillment center in Shakopee, MN -- a third ring suburb ~30 miles away from Minneapolis. - This is mostly anecdotal on my part, but it's pretty typical for top computer science students at…
Minneapolis is such a long shot in my opinion, because very ambitious people tend to move to the coasts.
But some of us might move back if Amazon were there..
Re: Few Cities Could Accommodate Amazon's New Headquarters
#107Earlier quoted context omitted.
Low-lying land! Surely you must be joking?
I think you are getting unfairly downvoted here. Clearly low-lying land is a serious concern for any entity with a long-term planning horizon. Most floodzone land should be left for low development, such as farming.
Yup. Why would anyone choose to build headquarters in a place that blatantly disregards dire existential threats to its people and economy with demonstrably catastrophic results?
Re: Few Cities Could Accommodate Amazon's New Headquarters
#108Seems like Denver would be good choice, considering how alike Seattle and Denver are. There's plenty of hiking, biking, camping, etc in the area, and it's central location is convenient for any travel to both the east and west coast. Denver also has an excellent craft brewery scene. Denver / Boulder are already tech hubs in their own right as well.
Shouldn't Amazon be more interested in the economic conditions, rather than hiking and biking and the brewery scene?
No. While economics are important, a place employees will want to live is also important
Re: Few Cities Could Accommodate Amazon's New Headquarters
#109I think Philadelphia is a good choice. Center City is a 30 minute drive to Philly international airport. Land is relatively cheap, much cheaper than NYC, Boston, or dc. We have an ivy league school in the city, with another less than an hour away, as well as many other schools in the area. We have a large metro population with a good size technical and business industry already. We also have rail and sea shipping ava…
I don't understand how Philadelphia is not near the top of the list. The cost of living is way lower then any other top 10 metro area, There is a huge local talent base, and lots of highly ranked feeder schools.
Where are you getting your numbers from? Philadelphia's cost of living is higher than say.... Dallas (And Houston And Austin). Plus DFW metropolitan area is the 4th largest in the US (7.2 million) whereas Philly is 7th (6 million).
Sorry..I couldn't resist using Dallas as an example considering it is American Football season.
Sources:
Cost of living (1) https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/compare_cities.jsp?cou...
Cost of living (2) http://www.bestplaces.net/cost-of-living/dallas-tx/philadelp...
Population https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Metropolitan_Statist...
Re: Few Cities Could Accommodate Amazon's New Headquarters
#110I find it interesting how many of these comments are sales pitches for their chosen cities. I don't have any preferences, since I have no desire to work for Amazon nor do I think my current city of SF is a good choice for reasons laid out in the article. What I'm most interested in, however, is how you get around some of these problems. The article points out a number of issues: Can even Amazon afford to pay 50,000 p…
Houston. Low Taxes. Low Cost of Living. International Airport. Major Port. Plenty of Housing. Universities.
Sorry...DFW over Houston.
Better weather, higher elevation, significantly lower cost of living, and more people.
Sources: https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/compare_cities.jsp?cou...
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Metropolitan_Statist...