Amazon HQ2 - Austin Chances ??? (Houston, San Marcos: 2015, horse, friendly)

[cBach]

Slim to none and Slim left town.

[ashbeeigh]

Originally Posted by Aquitaine

I'm not sure where they'd put it. It's not like there's a ton of corporate campus space lying around unused. I guess you could gentrify the poop out of Cameron Road but maybe others on C-D will know better than I do where in Austin would even be a candidate. Southeast out by the airport?

There are a few business parks in the Cameron/183 area that may fit, but they'd have to push out a lot of smaller people to make it work. Living in the area, I think I saw someone just think about Cameron changing like the Burnet/183 area. I don't think that's in the works though.

There is also the Austin Oaks area near Far West that has lots of space, but who knows. I just worry about an even bigger increase in techies bumping up the rent and causing the middle/lower class and old Austin to struggle even more than they already are. I'd honestly put Dallas and Houston at the top with the airport hubs (remember when Southwest was headquartered in San Antonio and their main reason for leaving for Dallas was for the direct flights in Dallas).

[Trainwreck20]

Yeah, the airport was the first 'concern' that I thought of, too. Just not flexible enough, I wouldn't think....

[Mimmyu]

If quick access to the airport is a criteria, then that means somewhere along 130.

[mesmer]

There's a lot of space out by the apple campus still, right across parmer. Traffic would be awful though.

I don't know that it would be a net win for Austin. Hard to say. Diversity in employers is more important than one big one.

[oldoak2000]

Yeah, 50,000 more people on I35 & MoPac every day - Bwa ha ha hah hah hah ha!!!

Maybe they could ride in on the 'drones' they'll be using for deliveries; bwa ha ha ha!

[Kthnry]

According to the WaPo article:

But experts say the company’s decision is likely to be as much about politics as it is about logistics and incentives. Bezos has been a vocal opponent of the Trump administration’s immigration bans, and earlier this week was among hundreds of tech leaders who urged the president to reconsider his stance on the “dreamers” immigration program.

Would Amazon or other major tech employer build a massive second headquarters in a red state that is vigorously anti-immigrant, anti-LGBT, and anti-woman's rights? Where social services are so miserable that Texas has the highest maternal mortality rate not just in the U.S., but in the developed world? Maybe, but I think they'll vote with their values.

[centralaustinite]

Put it on the old Freescale campus on 183! Tons of space and short straight shot the airport!

[rangergrit]

Originally Posted by Hyhdt

Don't get too excited. It wouldn't be built in SW Austin. No lottery for you.

Think about that a little. If they came to Austin, not in SW, SW would be even more valuable. Look at google maps during afternoon rush hours. Other than the traffic snag at the Oak Hill "Y", SW is less stressful than any area in NW Austin.

[Austinite76]

Nashville could be in the mix too. Albeit a dark horse.

I agree that Texas politics in this case are going to come back to bite any TX city.