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Are you saying you paid MO sales tax on an Amazon purchase? If they do have a facility in MO, you would only pay the MO sales tax, which would be much less than the taxes you pay at brick and mortar stores which include city, county, and all of metro KC's god awful TDD taxes that are at every retail development. So 4.225% according to google (vs the typical 8-10% you pay at most retail developments in KC area).
Even if Missouri has an amazon warehouse, if they don't have a large presence there, you may not be taxed because the item you bought has to come from a MO warehouse for you to have to pay the tax. I like it when amazon stuff doesn't come from Maryland distribution centers because there is no tax, but the trade off is typically slower shipping or no prime.
Yes, it was the 4.225%, and since I usually default to Prime, I usually pay the tax!
lol. They have a very small chance of coming to downtown KCMO. I really think that if KC had built a new airport terminal 10 years ago and today had a more flights, built a comprehensive light rail system and was another 10-15 years into the future of re-developing downtown, they would be right there in the top five cities. But KC is just still too far behind too many other cities today. As long as so many people in KC are hell bent on "not impressing outsiders" to the point of keeping KCI obsolete, not building "toy" trains etc, opportunities like this will pass on by KC.
So if there is a 1-5% chance of them coming to KCMO, there is pretty much zero chance of them coming to Kansas and Kansas would literally Star bond the entire economy of the state and give them billions of dollars and they still wouldn't consider Kansas. Kansas pretty much does not offer any of items listed in the RFP other than having a university.
Even Baltimore has projects like this that are ready to break ground. Amazon would fit well here with some improvments to transit in this area. I still think Denver or Boston will get it.
I just wanted to clarify. I totally support KC trying to land Amazon. It's totally worth a try. While I don't think Kansas has even a remote shot, this is where KS and MO can come together and hopefully put together the best package they can with regional cooperation. They just need to get on the same page and make downtown KCMO the primary location to sell to Amazon. The would probably actually harm KC's chances by trying to sell locations like Village West or Johnson County because Amazon will not take KC seriously with locations like that. Amazon moving to KCMO would be the biggest economic boom in the history of not only Missouri, but Kansas as well. Actually, even if they located in Missouri, it would probably have a larger percent impact on the state of Kansas. Kansas should treat KCMO landing this as the same thing as them landing it.
A major development near Crown Center, Union Station or the east or north sides of the Downtown loop would should be the locations that KC offers Amazon if they want even a remote shot at this. That combined with a major commitment to build a new airport terminal and a better transit system and a major improvement in urban recreational infrastructure. KC may not have all that now, but if Amazon were to choose KC, it would force the city to reach for higher goals than the status quo.
lol. They have a very small chance of coming to downtown KCMO. I really think that if KC had built a new airport terminal 10 years ago and today had a more flights, built a comprehensive light rail system and was another 10-15 years into the future of re-developing downtown, they would be right there in the top five cities. But KC is just still too far behind too many other cities today. As long as so many people in KC are hell bent on "not impressing outsiders" to the point of keeping KCI obsolete, not building "toy" trains etc, opportunities like this will pass on by KC.
So if there is a 1-5% chance of them coming to KCMO, there is pretty much zero chance of them coming to Kansas and Kansas would literally Star bond the entire economy of the state and give them billions of dollars and they still wouldn't consider Kansas. Kansas pretty much does not offer any of items listed in the RFP other than having a university.
Even Baltimore has projects like this that are ready to break ground. Amazon would fit well here with some improvments to transit in this area. I still think Denver or Boston will get it.
I'd actually say that Dallas, Denver, Boston, and Washington, DC are the leading contenders (Jeff Bezos just bought the most expensive house in DC). DC was AOL's headquarters and has a large tech scene.
Other potential contenders would be Atlanta, Charlotte, Chicago (which lured Boeing away from Seattle), Minneapolis, and Toronto (depending on how serious they really are about it being a "North American" as opposed to a US Headquarters.
Cities that may have a chance (but probably don't) are Austin, Columbus, Nashville, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, and Raleigh-Durham. They would be national heroes if they moved to Detroit but I just can't see them going there.
Bezos will play politics with this (which is why he bought the Washington Post in the first place) and may want to locate a headquarters in a "red" state if its advantageous to him politically. Kansas and Missouri don't have as influential Republican senators (traditionally) as Arizona, Colorado, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee, or Texas (if they do go the political route).
Ztonyg, I agree with everything you said. I just picked Denver and Boston as a guess to see if either gets it because I think they are probably closest to what Amazon wants. Other than those two, DC (and Baltimore), even some of the suburbs around DC like Tysons Corner, Houston, Atlanta, Dallas, Charlotte, Chicago, Minneapolis etc. I don't think they will go to a third tier city, even booming cities like Nashville or Austin.
Boston is the leading contender, for reasons that put places like KC and Denver out of the running. For example, Boston has MIT, Harvard, Boston U, Boston College, Northeastern, Tufts and other universities/colleges. How many other highly rated schools are within an hour or two of Boston? Amazon wants to be able to recruit the best and brightest (in its collective mind) who may not want to move to Seattle.
And no, I'm not anti KC. It's actually one of the places I'd leave Colorado for.
Boston is the leading contender, for reasons that put places like KC and Denver out of the running.
jb
I seriously doubt that Amazon would move to Boston. Did you see some of Amazon's requirements?
1. A low-rent area. (Boston is more expensive than Seattle.)
2. A city with a lot of cheap, open land so the company can expand. (Boston sits on a tiny parcel of land and almost every square inch of it has been developed.)
They watch their bottom line, but they also have no problem spending a little more money to office in a more expensive market. Otherwise they would not be building skyscrapers in downtown Seattle. Again, there is a difference in where they put their corporate HQ and employees vs their distribution centers, which are basically going just about everywhere. So far Missouri has lost to Kansas on the distribution centers, but Missourians don’t have to pay sales tax either. That’s why they have only built on the KS side of KC so far.
Check out their RFP. They want to be more than just close to a college. And honestly KC does not really compete in that department either. KC has Lawrence 45 minutes away and smallish UMKC while Denver, Boston etc have major urban universities in the heart of the city.
They also have comprehensive transit (KC does not), tons of urban recreation (KC does not), spec class A office space available and ready for them to move into that is near available land for new towers (KC’s has a very slow growth office market), a major international airport (KCI is not really all that “international” and we all know the airport in general is a mess right now). And yes, Amazon is a liberal west coast company that will not get along with politics in many midwestwern states.
So with all of the above, I think Denver or Boston are the closest thing to what they are wanting, but Minneapolis, Chicago, Philly, DC, NYC, even Baltimore and several others all have a good shot. If they go to a conservative state, then Austin, Nashville, Charlotte, Atlanta, Dallas etc still fit their RFP better than KC does. Cities with major modern airports, booming urban office markets, cities that have invested much more into transit and recreation etc.
Not that Downtown KC wouldn’t work and not that they would not be happy there. I just think KC has way too much competition in this case. Amazon is not going to build some crappy office park surrounded by parking lots in far flung outer suburbia KC like Sprint or Cerner or Garmin. Not going to happen. If they go suburban, it will be a very urban development in something like Silver Spring, MD or Bethesda MD or Arlington VA (examples in DC area). KC has come a long way, but It has a long way to go before it can compete with Denver, Minneapolis, Boston etc which are high quality of life major urban centers similar to Seattle where young tech people want to live.
KC could be in this had the city not spent the last few decades dragging its feet on improving the airport, building transit and bike/trail infrastructure and totally decentralizing downtown by migrating all the jobs to suburban office parks. At the same time, it will pay off big time for a city that has done the opposite of KC.
*shrug* We can play contrarian all day long but MN winters vs. something more trivial like KC airport? Or trying to get space in Boston while your workers have to spend 600k to get a ****ty house?
All I know is that Cerner, Garmin and many others seem quite happy to build in the KC area. Those wages wind up in both KS and MO coffers and the residents regardless of what side of the imaginary line will help support the metro.
Metro also has a burgeoning population of THRIVING people from India, Pakistan, China whom are delighted to own a very nice home with much lower taxes instead of having to rent a crap hole in CA etc.
I just think that there is a sea change going on where major tech corps are interested in on-shoring into reasonable cost of living areas.
CERNER right now is offering employees 5k towards house downpayment to live within a few miles of the old bannister mall.
I just wanted to clarify. I totally support KC trying to land Amazon. It's totally worth a try. While I don't think Kansas has even a remote shot, this is where KS and MO can come together and hopefully put together the best package they can with regional cooperation. They just need to get on the same page and make downtown KCMO the primary location to sell to Amazon. The would probably actually harm KC's chances by trying to sell locations like Village West or Johnson County because Amazon will not take KC seriously with locations like that. Amazon moving to KCMO would be the biggest economic boom in the history of not only Missouri, but Kansas as well. Actually, even if they located in Missouri, it would probably have a larger percent impact on the state of Kansas. Kansas should treat KCMO landing this as the same thing as them landing it.
A major development near Crown Center, Union Station or the east or north sides of the Downtown loop would should be the locations that KC offers Amazon if they want even a remote shot at this. That combined with a major commitment to build a new airport terminal and a better transit system and a major improvement in urban recreational infrastructure. KC may not have all that now, but if Amazon were to choose KC, it would force the city to reach for higher goals than the status quo.
I know Kansas Citians hate to hear this, but I saw a list that had St. Louis considerably ahead of Kansas City. While I think St. Louis has zero to no chance, I think St. Louis has a better chance than Kansas City for one reason and one reason only. Light Rail connection from downtown and major universities to airport.
I know Kansas Citians hate to hear this, but I saw a list that had St. Louis considerably ahead of Kansas City. While I think St. Louis has zero to no chance, I think St. Louis has a better chance than Kansas City for one reason and one reason only. Light Rail connection from downtown and major universities to airport.
And I've seen lists that had KC significantly ahead of St. Louis. Those lists mean absolutely nothing. The truth is the midwest's only chances of getting this are in Minneapolis or Chicago unless Amazon wants to move to an up and coming city. If they are looking for an up and coming city St. Louis definitely is not the choice.
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