Several news outlets predict Boston will get Amazon HQ2 (Springfield: condo, high crime)

[porterhouse]

Originally Posted by timberline742

Have you ever been? It's a great city. I prefer Madison for its size and culture, but despite the weather up there, its highly desirable.

Originally Posted by bjimmy24

Minneapolis is fantastic. Great place for bikers. Awesome recreation activities nearby. Some pretty fun neighborhoods and lively overall feel. St Paul is also cool, a bit of a contrast from MPLS if you need it. Anyone discounting the Twin Cities like this surely has no or little experience with them, especially not in the last 5-10 years.

I have travelled to MSP as far back as 20+ years ago and my business has taken me there quarterly for the past 8 years. My view is obviously based on my personal preferences and I probably wouldn't consider living most places in the US away from a coast other than maybe CO.

I prefer fishing for stripers to ice fishing. I find the area lacking culturally. The food scene has gotten a bit better, but still fairly limited. I do like to spend some time in an urban environment and downtown Minneapolis is not very nice IMO and downright unsafe in many areas. I find the downtown area fairly dead. It's cold as f**k (yes even compared to here). The general lifestyle isn't particularly healthy, I am amazed by how many of my clients are stepping out for smoke breaks. Much like here, friends who have done stints in the twin cities report that people who were born and raised in the area have insular groups of family and friends, and are fairly unwelcoming to newcomers.

Real estate is cheap, the schools in the immediate suburbs are excellent (based on these 2 things many people who belly ache on these boards should consider it), the light rail is excellent, MN offers beautiful lakes and outdoor activities, there is a major airport with direct flights both domestically and internationally, the LBQT scene there was fairly open welcoming ahead of it's time showing some signs of being a progressive city.

There are worse places to live certainly, but there is not nearly enough to entice me to ever consider MSP. Easier in my career I was recruited for a position based in Minneapolis and honestly did not even consider it. YMMV.

[btownboss4]

Originally Posted by vision33r

Amazon HQ2 Winner May Be Boston, Says Wells Fargo AI Program | Fortune

Do you agree or disagree with this prediction? I happen to disagree not because I want Amazon to move to my backyard in NYC, I don't want Amazon here.

With the 3rd Noreaster here and typical dreadful winter part of the norm in Boston, why would anyone want to move there when there are milder winter cities on the list.

I disagree about the talent pool, I am consultant I would travel to the client if the paying rate fits the bill. So many of the cities might lack local talent but I'm sure plenty of college grads would relocate if given an Amazon job offer.

Another reason against Boston and NY is the lack of affordable housing. With Amazon moving in, it would spike RE prices in the vicinity by as much as 30-70% of already expensive RE prices in the region.

If Amazon say paid me $250k/yr and home prices and rents are as much as Silicon Valley prices, then the salary isn't enough for the high COL.

I think it would be a major mistake for Amazon to locate to a major high COL city like Boston, NYC.

Boston has 2.8 Million jobs in the metro you really think adding 50,000 jobs over the course of like 10 years is gonna spike housing prices 70%, that's stupid, Amazon isn't a huge deal

[mwj119]

Originally Posted by bjimmy24

Minneapolis is fantastic. Great place for bikers. Awesome recreation activities nearby. Some pretty fun neighborhoods and lively overall feel. St Paul is also cool, a bit of a contrast from MPLS if you need it. Anyone discounting the Twin Cities like this surely has no or little experience with them, especially not in the last 5-10 years.

Something we absolutely agree on. A great place to live.

[tysmith95]

Originally Posted by btownboss4

Boston has 2.8 Million jobs in the metro you really think adding 50,000 jobs over the course of like 10 years is gonna spike housing prices 70%, that's stupid, Amazon isn't a huge deal

If Amazon adds 50k jobs directly to Bostons labor market, I still think it will have a big affect. It's not just the Jobs that Amazon would directly create. It's the additional construction jobs, both from the building of the HQ and new housing that would be needed as a result of the new employees. And there will be additional service workers that will need to be hired to serve all of the additional employees that Amazon will bring. Plus you'd need to hire more teachers in Schools where Amazon employees and their families move to, additional police, etc. I don't know the exact numbers, but highly paid engineers and office workers will contribute to the creation of other jobs.

Though I think the 50k number is a bit on the optimistic side. Amazon currently has 40k employees on their Seattle campus. They would have to have a corporate workforce at 2-3x the size to meet their projections. That type of growth is far from a guarantee, even for a company doing as well as Amazon.

[btownboss4]

Originally Posted by tysmith95

If Amazon adds 50k jobs directly to Bostons labor market, I still think it will have a big affect. It's not just the Jobs that Amazon would directly create. It's the additional construction jobs, both from the building of the HQ and new housing that would be needed as a result of the new employees. And there will be additional service workers that will need to be hired to serve all of the additional employees that Amazon will bring. Plus you'd need to hire more teachers in Schools where Amazon employees and their families move to, additional police, etc. I don't know the exact numbers, but highly paid engineers and office workers will contribute to the creation of other jobs.

Though I think the 50k number is a bit on the optimistic side. Amazon currently has 40k employees on their Seattle campus. They would have to have a corporate workforce at 2-3x the size to meet their projections. That type of growth is far from a guarantee, even for a company doing as well as Amazon.

I think that the ripple effect is smaller when they are in a place that already exists, there are already tons of restraints and convenience stores and stuff in Boston so some places will absorb business without hiring, vs a town like Rochester, NY or whatever which literally doesn't have enough restaurants for a lunch break crowd caused by 50,000 extra jobs new places would have to open.

Even teachers in stuff the more it's diluted into a metro area the less it will effect, because unless it significantly boosts enrollment in a certain town they aren't hiring anyone and more likely it will be spread among many towns

[vision33r]

Originally Posted by btownboss4

Boston has 2.8 Million jobs in the metro you really think adding 50,000 jobs over the course of like 10 years is gonna spike housing prices 70%, that's stupid, Amazon isn't a huge deal

These are high paying jobs not just any jobs. I would estimate that 60% of the 50,000 will make more than $100k since these are mostly tech jobs. The salaries will change the surrounding neighborhoods tremendously as homes, commercial areas, towns will have to adjust to absorb the number of tech workers that will need to commute to the Amazon site. If you don't think it's huge you have no idea how big of impact Amazon is and you don't seem to understand what the impact will be.

[timberline742]

Originally Posted by vision33r

These are high paying jobs not just any jobs. I would estimate that 60% of the 50,000 will make more than $100k since these are mostly tech jobs. The salaries will change the surrounding neighborhoods tremendously as homes, commercial areas, towns will have to adjust to absorb the number of tech workers that will need to commute to the Amazon site. If you don't think it's huge you have no idea how big of impact Amazon is and you don't seem to understand what the impact will be.

How will the salaries change the surrounding neighborhoods? The area if filled with 100k+ jobs. Everyone I know in tech, pharm, and nursing already make 100k. They're all over. There is no shortage of them around, it isn't like 50k 100k jobs is some sort of colossal outlier. 50k over ten years is already happening, I would think we have more than that being added each year already.

[tysmith95]

It depends on where it goes. I'd expect a Suffolk Downs location to change the surrounding area immensely, since that part of Eastie, Revere, Lynn, Everett, even Winthrop to an extent are all working class blue collar or service class cities/neighborhoods.

[timberline742]

Originally Posted by tysmith95

It depends on where it goes. I'd expect a Suffolk Downs location to change the surrounding area immensely, since that part of Eastie, Revere, Lynn, Everett, even Winthrop to an extent are all working class blue collar or service class cities/neighborhoods.

I wouldn't, the employees at that pay scale would live in places with more desirable neighborhoods. East Boston is large segments though has already been flipping to nicer things.

[btownboss4]

Originally Posted by timberline742

I wouldn't, the employees at that pay scale would live in places with more desirable neighborhoods. East Boston is large segments though has already been flipping to nicer things.

I think he means it's not like you'd go to Boston for lunch, or for a quick stop at CVS by South Station new stores and stuff would have to pop up near Suffolk downs to support 50,000 employees