Would it be good for the Mega Companies around Seattle to do this? (Tacoma: tax)

[beenhereandthere]

Instead of mega expansion just around Lake Union, or Redmond and driving the rents and housing prices more insane and the traffic worse (since people would most likely not be able to live close to say South Lake Union) why not in other Puget Sound Cities, like Tacoma, Bremerton or even Bellingham?
Some tax break could be given?
Or would that turn those areas into unaffordable, yuppie places too?

[Hemlock140]

The reason they have located in Lake Union, Redmond, and Downtown Bellevue is because the employees they hire want to live in those areas. If they located in Tacoma, Bremerton or Bellingham they would not be able to attract the best and brightest people. These are workers that can easily afford the "unaffordable yuppie" places, and they are happy to work there and live nearby.

[CrazyDonkey]

Bellevue and Redmond were just suburbs until Microsoft took root. Now there are tons of tech companies in that area. Prior to Amazon, Seattle proper didn't have a lot of tech companies. Major companies (Boeing, Microsoft, and Amazon) form their own ecospheres.

Link Seattle, Tacoma, and Everett with high-speed passenger rail, so that you can go between Tacoma and Everett within an hour, or from Seattle to either within a half hour, then that could change the calculus for where companies might choose to locate. Right now, access to talent, business partners, and shortened commutes/travel trumps high land values, but that could change.

[beenhereandthere]

Originally Posted by Hemlock140

The reason they have located in Lake Union, Redmond, and Downtown Bellevue is because the employees they hire want to live in those areas. If they located in Tacoma, Bremerton or Bellingham they would not be able to attract the best and brightest people. These are workers that can easily afford the "unaffordable yuppie" places, and they are happy to work there and live nearby.

Ok, but not all the workers that work for those companies are tech workers, they may pay a janitor or desk clerk 40 to 50 k a year but around those areas that is near poverty unless you have roommates. So they commute from Pierce or Snohomish Counties and that clogs up the traffic that much worse.
Plus for other cities in Western WA like Bellingham, it would help their ecomony.

[GatsbyGatz]

Focusing the region's major employers in one place sounds a lot smarter than scattered across the region. Downtown Seattle is already the focal point for our transit system. Why have employers spread out to regions with significantly worse transit connections like Everett or Tacoma? Both cities are much more suburban than Seattle and would only induce more sprawl and driving.