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Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
44,606 posts, read 81,297,702 times
Reputation: 57853
Since Amazon's big building filled up in Seattle, our property value went from the recession low of $450kto now $1,196,911, for which I suppose we should be grateful. We only paid $190k in 1993, and would not be able to afford to buy it today. Most of the neighbors we know, including the last 3 buyers have been Amazon Tech workers. People working anywhere else, with the exception of some at Microsoft and Boeing have little chance to buy a house. The pre-pandemic traffic cost by their South Lake Union employee commuters, even with their shuttles, has clogged up the freeways, bridges and Seattle streets. I think their biggest benefit to the area is the warehouse districts in places like Renton Kent and Auburn, WA with lower housing costs and Amazon warehouse pay is up to $24/hour.
South Lake Union was 27% single-occupancy vehicle commutes in 2019, down from 41% in 2012. This is most of Amazon's older offices since the 2010 move from Beacon Hill and the ID.
The Denny Triangle, where they've grown more lately, was 21%, dropping from 30%.
The Commercial Core btw was 15% in 2019 vs. 17% in 2012.
Basically greater Downtown grew explosively during this period but (while I don't see a specific estimate) didn't add a lot of car commuters.
I think I was either still in DC or had just left for Reno when DC won it. I was slightly disappointed, I never really identified with DC (just a big transient metro where I lived for a few months) and it would've been cool if a more economically struggling city had won one of the HQs.
If I was an Amazon employee, I'd be much more excited about moving to/living in Philly than DC/Norther Virginia.
Philly is a much bigger and more dynamic city, and has a better price point. With all of the high caliber universities in the area, it is well positioned to attract talent; and there are overall a better collection of universities in Philly than in DC (DC doesn't have an Ivy like UPenn).
I don't know. Even if you look exclusively at the DC and Philly metros and not nearby, they both share a strong set of universities, but to be fair, does UPenn or Georgetown actually produce the kind of graduates en masse really demanded by Amazon; you need engineering, not business or policy.
Quote:
Originally Posted by 80sportsfan
I can understand losing out to NYC; and I would even understand Philly losing out to SF or Boston; but I don't understand how Northern Virginia/DC beat out Philly.
Let's not pretend like DC isn't vibrant. It, like Philly, is on fire, maybe more so. And don't forget about incentives and state law, which also come into play. The part of NOVA where HQ2 is located is practically an extension of DC with those friendlier business laws and an equal measure of connectivity to the center. And anyone who's lived in Philly and PA generally knows about the extra taxes you end up paying as a resident. That isn't attractive. Plus Philly is full of energy and culture, but as someone also mentioned earlier, it has a very, very strong local culture, that is possibly a turnoff to newcomers/outsiders, or persons not familiar with it.
Saying Philly didn't fit the "profile" is a really bogus claim. Philadelphia finished in the top 3 above DC, and the Washingtonian puffs out it's chest and says Philly can't compete us! The executives always knew they just wanted to be in NYC and Bezos wanted to be at his mansion in DC. Schuylkill Yards is a ballin' development that is still getting built without Amazon as the anchor.
I just read that Washingtonian article in full.
I don't take it personally, I get that it's just good natured regional trash talk.
But I'm sitting here like: "Wait. Your football team has been so blatantly, virulently racist for nearly a century; that they're now embarrassed to even be associated with their own slur of a former team name and logo; and now just call themselves "Football Team"?
And Eagles fans were the Amazon dealbreaker? The image problem? The bridge too far?
Somebody's in their own supply.
Last edited by LiveFrom215; 05-23-2021 at 04:08 PM..
Wow I'm surprised this came back from the dead. Just to put my 2 cents in. I think Atlanta should have won that. I'm not from there but I think it was the best pick looking at all of the criteria. Also it isn't ridiculously expensive and would have been a boost to the southeast region. I know people may say that he could have brought Detroit back or something, but let's be realistic that's too big of a stretch. I don't think asking him to be a charity is reasonable when he is trying to make his business succeed. Atlanta isn't the most awesome place to live but it's a decent one. Rather than making already ridiculously expensive metros more expensive he should have picked Atlanta.
That being said NYC/DC are ridiculous. We didn't need that whole nonsense to pick those cities.
Interesting thing about the whole HQ2 thing too - Bellevue, right across the lake from Seattle, is being built out to accommodate 25k Amazon employees - same as Arlington.
Bellevue is doing it all at once, with WAY more construction than Arlington. This is just the main HQ continuing to be the main growth location.
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