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Those that decry the high COL of those cities forget that there are a lot of suburban options in both cities.
Stamford
White Plains
Bethesda
Columbia
Tyson's Corner
Rockville
Laurel
I rather like the idea of a "legacy" city getting this; Detroit, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Baltimore or Philadelphia.
I can appreciate that sentiment and Im sure Amazon does too, but I would personally pick a city that has greater stature than Seattle does. Otherwise what's the point?
The massive Hudson Yards development in Manhattan seems tailor made for this imo.
I can appreciate that sentiment and Im sure Amazon does too, but I would personally pick a city that has greater stature than Seattle does. Otherwise what's the point?
The massive Hudson Yards development in Manhattan seems tailor made for this imo.
Atlanta has a fair chance. It is a transportation hub with a great airport. Cost of office space is cheap. Through Georgia Tech and Emory there is a really good college-educated base in and around Atlanta. It all depends on how aggressively the state of Georgia and the City of Atlanta want to pursue this deal. They were very successful in attracting Hollywood in the last few years.
I would say Chicago comes next.
Raleigh and Charlotte are good pics too but the state of North Carolina has tarnished it's reputation in the last few years and most of the West Coast CEOs have some beef with the state.
First rule to look for when a CEO is picking a new location for a HQ is to see where they own a home. You don't buy a $23M mansion with renovations as well in the city without plans to inhabit it at least part of the year. Also he owns the Washington Post. He has a long game here, as Amazon gets larger, he's going to have to deal with the federal government even more. Plus relocating here could help reposition the company politically. He's has aspirations to shape the political dialogue in this country and locating here could help.
This is one of the reasons I see DC region as a reasonable choice, and they don't necessarily have to be in the city proper:
- Being in or near the nation's capital has its own implicit benefits on the policy/legal front
- If NOVA, you get a liberal region that still benefits from the southern-style, competitive lower-cost and pro-business environment
- In MD, the Greenbelt area was all but ready for the new FBI HQ
- Transit, Office Space, Connectivity, Workforce; check, check, check
- An East Coast office that is favorable in being closer to European Offices; if Tysons, the underutilized Silver Line would directly connect to Dulles or DCA with round the clock air travel available to all points of the globe.
- Strong institutions of higher education nearby
- Bezos owns the Washington Post, like you mentioned
- Amazon Web Services (AWS) data centers based in NOVA, which is also powered by the Amazon Solar Farm US East in Accomack Co, VA; an existing partnership with Dominion Resources who recently announced an expansion with four new 20 MW solar farms in New Kent, Buckingham, Sussex, and Powhatan counties (Richmond area) and a 100 MW facility in Southampton County (Hampton Roads); in VA, Amazon purchases power from its own Solar Farms.
- Seattle and Washington compare favorably
- etc., etc., etc.
Honestly, I think I would like to see the project go to an urban place like Baltimore, but it's also hard to ignore DC has some unique existing advantages in existing infrastructure that make it particularly competitive. Even where it may fall short in certain business costs (which I think would make DC proper inhibitive), a state like VA and even MD will double down on incentives to get it done. There's a lot to work with.
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