Could Atlanta be in the running for second Amazon headquarters? (Nashville: high school, zoning)

[fourthwarden]

Originally Posted by oobanks

Could this Unreleased named project that has been approved and to be built in Macon be a sign Amazon may be seriously looking at Atlanta to be it's 2nd Headquarters. This is looking more and more to be another one of Amazon's centers.


https://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/...be-amazon.html

I really doubt that they're related.

[brown_dog_us]

Bloomberg crunches some numbers to show where the smartest people are moving from and to. The data is behind a paywall, but they provide a color coded map plus the top 10. Atlanta isn't in the top 10, but they are colored in the map as a place with a higher concentration of smart people.

[cwkimbro]

Originally Posted by fourthwarden

I really doubt that they're related.

Agreed. The placement of logistics facilities and warehouses is widely dispersed and about the most efficient way to get product to the door.

Has very little to do with their top end. Their warehouses are everywhere.

[Beretta]

I just got a breaking news story that Amazon picked Atlanta for a regional tech hub. Is this a new location from one previously announced?

[primaltech]

Originally Posted by Beretta

I just got a breaking news story that Amazon picked Atlanta for a regional tech hub. Is this a new location from one previously announced?

They're not talking about HQ2. That's something else and much smaller. One of a few "regional tech hubs", I presume.

[Beretta]

Originally Posted by primaltech

They're not talking about HQ2. That's something else and much smaller. One of a few "regional tech hubs", I presume.

I realized it wasn’t HQ2, but they mentioned a hub a few weeks back. Looks like you are right, there will be several hubs. Thanks for responding to my question.

[primaltech]

I remember seeing something about a logistics hub, which I'm sure is not the same thing as the "tech hub".

Someone needs to make a diagram of all this stuff.

[CaliDreaming01]

Originally Posted by Born 2 Roll

I share your hope that Atlanta wouldn't be changed drastically on the Cost-of-Living front if the city were to be chosen as the site of Amazon's second headquarters... But I fear that things would change significantly in that regard.

The Cost-of-Living (particularly in regards to housing prices) has been on the rise in a significant way in recent years.

The introduction of the headquarters of such a major and very high-profile corporation in Amazon and tens-of-thousands of high-paying positions into an Atlanta metropolitan market already experiencing tight housing supply throughout many areas likely would only intensify that situation.

Atlanta being selected as the site of Amazon's second headquarters likely would make the city and metro area an even hotter destination for high-profile, high-paying job generating corporate relocations increasing housing demand further in an Atlanta metro market with apparently limited housing supply.

By no means am I complaining about the challenges that would arise were Amazon to select Atlanta as the site of its second HQ. Many (if not all) communities would love to have the problem of basically being swamped by high-paying job generating high-profile corporate relocations.

It just seems that the problem of limited housing supply is a very unique problem to have for an Atlanta metro area and region where oversupply of housing and new development seemed to have been more of a concern in the past, particularly during the boom periods of the late 1980's, the late 1990's and the mid-late 2000's and most notably during the Great Recessionary downturn of the late 2000's and early 2010's.

Yeah, COL would absolutely skyrocket but so would the quality of life here. Amazon will be an incredibly good thing for the people who can afford to continue to live here and a tragedy for those who can't. This is already happening on a smaller scale already. This is a serious problem but I don't think this is a reason to not work to bring Amazon here. The factors that caused the income inequality in the first place will remain in place whether or not Amazon comes here. Amazon just makes income inequality more conspicuous.

Originally Posted by Born 2 Roll

That's an excellent point.

Though, it should probably be clarified that the political leadership of the City of Atlanta proper has elected to push for and win voter approval to fund the expansion of transit with the corporate limits of the City of Atlanta proper.

It is the political leaders of Georgia state government (along with the local and municipal political leadership of almost all areas of metro Atlanta outside the MARTA service area of Fulton, DeKalb and Clayton counties) that have elected not to expand transit in a meaningful way.

In a 21st Century marketplace that increasingly demands direct access to high-capacity transit service, it will be areas that chose to make early-on investments in high-capacity transit like Fulton and DeKalb (and Clayton) that will have the advantage in corporate recruiting over suburban areas like Cobb and Gwinnett that chose to shun transit early-on.

The investment in MARTA Heavy Rail Transit (an agency that continues to be derided by transit-averse suburbanites and exurbanites, even in a 21st Century marketplace that increasingly demands access to robust transit service) by an area like the City of Atlanta proper appears to be a major reason why a corporate behemoth like appears to be much more interested in the City of Atlanta proper than in outlying suburban counties like Cobb and Gwinnett where many locals continue to turn their noses up at transit despite the worsening traffic congestion problems and an international business marketplace that increasingly favors the presence of robust transit.




I agree that not getting Amazon because of a lack of good transit access throughout the entire Atlanta metro area would likely be a good motivator for regional and state political leadership to pursue an improved regional transit apparatus.

Though, if I had my druthers, I'd much rather prefer that Amazon select Atlanta as the site for its second HQ and the regional transit thing be dealt with separately.

In the 21st Century marketplace where there is an increasing emphasis on transit access over just automobile access alone, the entire Atlanta metro area and region does not have a major problem with lack of transit access. An area like the City of Atlanta proper has made and continues to make big investments in transit infrastructure with an eye on a more multimodal future.

It is the area outside of the City of Atlanta proper (and especially outside of the MARTA service area of Fulton, DeKalb and Clayton counties) that has the biggest problem with the lack of transit access in highly-populated and heavily-developed areas after decades of purposefully shunning and demagoguing against transit.

As I've asserted before when the subject of transit comes up, it's not the City of Atlanta's problem that outlying areas like Cobb and Gwinnett refused to invest in transit in the past.

It is the problem of outlying areas like Cobb and Gwinnett that they purposefully (and often proudly) refused and shunned making meaningful investments in transit access even as the writing was on the wall that transit would grow in importance as an economic development tool in years and decades to come.

It is the City of Atlanta that is doing something about transit. It is Cobb and Gwinnett and the State of Georgia that are doing nothing about transit, though that potentially could change.

I think it's finally gotten to the point where the burbs are going to get mass transit whether they want it or not. I live in Fayette County, another far off burb with large numbers of the population dead set against transit of any kind, even commuter busses. There is a definite sense that mass transit is going to happen and there's nothing that can be done to stop it. The sense of inevitability doesn't seem to stop people from fighting it tooth and nail.

[oobanks]

Originally Posted by primaltech

I remember seeing something about a logistics hub, which I'm sure is not the same thing as the "tech hub".

Someone needs to make a diagram of all this stuff.

Agreed!!! Amazon's on fire though.. lol, building up like crazy

[brown_dog_us]

Originally Posted by Beretta

I just got a breaking news story that Amazon picked Atlanta for a regional tech hub. Is this a new location from one previously announced?

Different. Amazon is building over a dozen tech hubs around the country.