Could the Denver metro be the home of the new Amazon HQ2? (Fort Collins: to live in, versus)

[Mike from back east]

Eastern Time Zone allows them to work hours that are closer to the bulk of the U.S. population, but in this day and age I'd expect Amazon to have people on duty at whatever hours work for the company and its customers.

I do know that most of the major van lines used to be located in Indiana which allowed them pretty equal time-access to both coasts as well as transcontinental highway routes. Not sure if that's why Sears chose Chicago so many years ago, but I do know that Chicago was a huge rail hub (still is) and Sears was able to ship stuff from a central location in order to standardize travel times to just about everywhere east of the Rockies.

Postal rates used to be cheaper from Chicago to most of the nation. When I worked for Domino Sugar in Baltimore we'd load 12,000 to 13,000 Christmas gift boxes into semi trucks and have them taken to the main Chicago post office for entry into the postal system as it was cheaper overall.

I hope whatever city lands this thing that they don't give away the store to attract it. Denver once put the kibosh on holding a Winter Olympics as they knew it was a gouge to the taxpayers. I feel the same way about bribing corporations to choose my city and about taxpayer supported stadiums as well.

[pikabike]

There was a time when Nike was rumored to be moving HQ to Denver.

[DenverBrian]

Originally Posted by flamadiddle

Plus, Bezos recently purchased a $23M dollar home in DC, which really makes you wonder.

Easily explained by the fact that Bezos owns the Washington Post.

[mufc1878]

Originally Posted by DenverBrian

Easily explained by the fact that Bezos owns the Washington Post.

yes, and what better way to influence the national converstaion and politics than not only owning the paper of record in town and one of the largest private sector employers.

Denver will be a finalist but make no mistake, DC/NOVA will be a very hard competitor.

[Gaylord_Focker]

Wow friend that would know says Denver believes it's in the final thrwe

[Phil P]

Originally Posted by Mike from back east

I hope whatever city lands this thing that they don't give away the store to attract it. Denver once put the kibosh on holding a Winter Olympics as they knew it was a gouge to the taxpayers. I feel the same way about bribing corporations to choose my city and about taxpayer supported stadiums as well.

^^ Exactly.

I feel HQ2 could do the same thing to Denver depending on how it would be hashed out.

My biggest concern is that it will drive a bigger wedge between the have and have nots in Denver because Denver is already plush with jobs but short in infrastructure and housing. Either you are in a high rolling Amazon (or competitor job with wages being priced up) or you get priced AND commuted out. Whether Denver could build infrastructure to support the additional people is dependent on the incentive package size. If it can't, Denverite's get screwed.

Currently, it looks like Denver would offer 50% off of payroll tax and $10 million in match to local incentives. Not too generous thankfully.

Locations could be by the airport which is practical but pretty unsexy, RINO which sits in the most polluted zip code in the country, and down south near Lone Tree, which sounds the best to me.

Denver Post Amazon HQ2

[TCHP]

Originally Posted by BornintheSprings

Dang it I was hoping they would pick the Springs

They don't need to. With Amazon in Denver, it will accelerate the need for high sped rail along the Front range and Cos will become a commuter city.

[cowboyxjon]

Originally Posted by Gaylord_Focker

Wow friend that would know says Denver believes it's in the final thrwe

Haha, so much gossip! I overheard someone in the elevator in my office building mentioning that they had insider info, and that Amazon had chosen Atlanta!

Amazon recruits heavily here in Denver and they also have some employees parked in the WeWork building near Union Station. My personal opinion is that they will choose a city on the East Coast, but I have no insider knowledge.

[whoisjongalt]

Dear God in heaven don't move here Amazon. This wonderful place is already suffering from Californication. If you love gridlock traffic and massive construction and overpriced real estate you'll love Amazon. 50,000 !!! employees? Are you kidding me? Why don't you just move to L.A.? If they pick Denver, I'm moving to Evergreen.

I think they should move to Detroit. They need it. We don't.

[BornintheSprings]

Originally Posted by TCHP

They don't need to. With Amazon in Denver, it will accelerate the need for high sped rail along the Front range and Cos will become a commuter city.

I suppose thats not to terrible