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IMO they should go with Austin. Whole Foods is already based there, it is business and family friendly, has the economic incentives to attract workers (no state income tax!), is growing and there is established tech sector presence there to poach talent from (Apple, Facebook, obviously Dell, among others have a presence there).
Austin doesn't have the airport or public transportation they're looking for. Dallas/Fort Worth are better Texas options but Atlanta seems to be the best choice in the South. And Georgia is known for giving massive tax incentives which is why they are a major player in the film industry.
IMO they should go with Austin. Whole Foods is already based there, it is business and family friendly, has the economic incentives to attract workers (no state income tax!), is growing and there is established tech sector presence there to poach talent from (Apple, Facebook, obviously Dell, among others have a presence there).
While no state income tax in TX, property taxes are high. Isn't the tech sector in Austin more hardware based than software based? Also, Dallas and Houston have better (international) airports.
Theres no way Charlotte is going to get it. Companies like these want to be headquartered near other like companies. That way they can work off of each other's community resources, talent pools, etc.
We don't have the highly educated (in the right fields) workforce, we don't have good infrastructure, we don't have the financial means to lure them (compared to other cities/states), and I bet the repercussions from HB2 still affect things... a company doesn't want to make that big of an investment in a place that is one election or even bill away from being bad for business.
It won't be here, which is too bad, because we really could use something like that. But, just like it won't be in a place like St Louis or Tucson, Charlotte will be an "also ran."
It'll be in any given major city (like Chicago, Dallas, Phoenix), a tech stronghold (like San Fran), or... on an off chance... a smaller, tech-heavy, place that they can find and attract the right workforce (like Austin, Boulder, or Charleston).
Theres no way Charlotte is going to get it. Companies like these want to be headquartered near other like companies. That way they can work off of each other's community resources, talent pools, etc.
We don't have the highly educated (in the right fields) workforce, we don't have good infrastructure, we don't have the financial means to lure them (compared to other cities/states), and I bet the repercussions from HB2 still affect things... a company doesn't want to make that big of an investment in a place that is one election or even bill away from being bad for business.
It won't be here, which is too bad, because we really could use something like that. But, just like it won't be in a place like St Louis or Tucson, Charlotte will be an "also ran."
It'll be in any given major city (like Chicago, Dallas, Phoenix), a tech stronghold (like San Fran), or... on an off chance... a smaller, tech-heavy, place that they can find and attract the right workforce (like Austin, Boulder, or Charleston).
Charleston is way too small; the company explicitly mentioned they were looking at 1M+ metros, plus Charleston's airport isn't big/busy enough. The city does well for a smaller tech player but a 50K Amazon HQ is waaaayyyy out of its league and frankly the city doesn't have the infrastructure to support such a large eco devo project. The only area in SC that would be in contention is the Charlotte 'burbs.
IMO, Charlotte would make the top 10 list for locations. This article trims the possibilities down to 26 (although I know there was a different article that knocked Charlotte off the list) - https://www.cbsnews.com/news/amazons...re-contenders/ . IMO it won't be on the west coast and taking out metros without a major airport (which on the west coast would really only be LA and SF anyway) I'd say the top 9 in no particular order would be NYC, Chicago, Dallas, Baltimore/DC, Philly, Atlanta, Boston, Denver, Charlotte.
If I had to guess I'd say Dallas or Atlanta, probably leaning Dallas due to the proximity to Austin.
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