Downtown?
Posted on 09/23/2017 3:08:59 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Amazon said Thursday that it will spend $5 billion to build another headquarters in North America to house 50,000 new employees. In April, workers constructed three glass-covered domes in an expansion of the company’s downtown Seattle campus.
Amazon made the sort of announcement Thursday morning that mayors dream about.
The tech juggernaut said it was looking for the right city in which to build its “HQ2”: a second headquarters in North America, equal to its campus in Seattle. And it’s going to make that selection process a public one, akin to how cities bid to host an Olympic Games.
“We expect to invest over $5 billion in construction and grow this second headquarters to include as many as 50,000 high-paying jobs,” Amazon wrote on its website. “In addition to Amazon’s direct hiring and investment, construction and ongoing operation of Amazon HQ2 is expected to create tens of thousands of additional jobs and tens of billions of dollars in additional investment in the surrounding community.”
Amazon, which is among NPR’s financial supporters, says it is looking for a metro area of more than 1 million people, a “stable and business-friendly environment,” and the potential to “attract and retain strong technical talent.”
The company estimates it added $38 billion to Seattle’s economy between 2010 and 2016. And in its request for proposals from cities, Amazon says the average annual total compensation of those 50,000 new employeees will exceed $100,000.
But Amazon’s presence — and the high-paid workers it employs — has also been a major factor in creating a housing crisis in Seattle, which has the fastest-growing home prices in the country. The housing market there has become so expensive that even wealthy foreign buyers are getting priced out.
It turns out that many North American mayors would love to have problems like that. On Thursday, they were hankering for the chance to be home to Amazon’s HQ2:
Dallas: “We will aggressively demonstrate that Dallas and our surrounding area would be the perfect spot for their expansive business needs,” Mayor Mike Rawlings said in a statement to CNN Tech. “Amazon already has an extensive amount of business here. They’ve been good corporate citizens and we look forward to future conversations.”
Chicago: “Chicago’s unmatched workforce, world-class universities and unparalleled access to destinations throughout the world make it the perfect headquarters location for companies large and small,” mayoral spokesman Grant Klinzman told the Chicago Sun-Times. “That’s also why Chicago has led the nation in corporate relocations for the last four years.”
Toronto: “I firmly believe that Toronto is a prime candidate to host Amazon’s second headquarters in North America,” Mayor John Tory told the CBC. “City staff are working with Toronto Global to make sure we put together an attractive bid for this opportunity. … I will be leading the charge to make the case that Amazon should call Toronto home.”
Philadelphia: “We think Philadelphia would be a PRIME location for Amazon that would make people SMILE!” tweeted mayor Jim Kenney. “Look forward to submitting a proposal!”
Washington, D.C.: “Mayor Bowser has directed us to pursue every opportunity to expand employment in the District, and we have already reviewed Amazon’s search for a second headquarters,” a spokesperson for D.C.’s deputy mayor for planning and economic development told the Washington Business Journal. “[The] District is open for business and provides the amenities and talented workforce to be a competitive location for major tech firms.”
Baltimore: “Dear @amazon, please come to Baltimore City,” City Councilman Eric Costello tweeted. “We’ve already successfully worked together, we can and we will do it again!”
Pittsburgh: “With an unmatched portfolio of technological talent and intriguing development parcels, Pittsburgh is uniquely positioned to submit a winning bid for Amazon’s facility,” Mayor William Peduto said in a statement to CNN. “This is a transformational opportunity unlike any that we’ve ever seen.”
The municipal casting call is reminiscent of Google’s 2010 search for cities in which to roll out its high-speed fiber-optic cable, Google Fiber. That open-for-business arms race led to civic wackiness like Topeka temporarily (and unofficially) changing its name to Google, Kan. Residents of Grand Rapids, Mich., staged a parade in Google’s honor. The mayor of Duluth, Minn., went for a Google-inspired polar bear swim. (After deploying Google Fiber in 10 cities, Google announced last year it was scaling back the project.)
Similar high jinks are almost guaranteed in the pursuit of Amazon. Many cities will very likely put together proposals with big tax breaks, too — even though the company really doesn’t need the money.
Amazon says it is looking for communities “that think big and creatively when considering locations and real estate options.”
The ideas are coming fast and furious, and not just from mayors. How about putting Amazon in Chicago’s Old Post Office? Or how about next to the train stations in Uptown Philadelphia? What if Amazon put its HQ in Detroit?
re amazon hq, what about the old main post office? 2x total square foot requirement, but maybe a feature not a bug? https://t.co/Wr2jjOOn0o
New Amazon HQ should go next to the North Philadelphia Amtrak and BSL stations. Backbone of new Uptown biz district https://t.co/h928AKlobO https://t.co/u7xBad3MDK
In cities across the country, people will look around and think about where they would put 50,000 tech workers, whether in enormous old buildings or brand-new construction.
With its announcement Thursday, Amazon set off a crazy corporate-Olympics contest — and one big thought experiment on the future of some American cities.
It’s a classic poisoned chalice. Many of those jobs will be filled by outsiders, from out-of-state and out-of-country. They will relocate to the new area, much like they did with Seattle itself, and will contribute to turning the area hard-blue (again, just like Seattle). 50,000 employees plus their families can have a significant electoral effect in a short amount of time.
So Seattle wasn’t headed hard-left before Amazon?
It will be about as beneficial as having a big university. Sure, there will be money flowing but the location will make a very hard left turn politically.
Please pick Chicago or Baltimore - keep the progressives bottled up in a commie state.
“50,000 six-figure jobs”
49,820 Liberals.
.
They have already purchased the property, in Concord Ca.
.
” Many cities will very likely put together proposals with big tax breaks, too ....”
No worries — they’ll just raise the taxes on existing small businesses (many of them already struggling to compete with on-line retailers).
went by the amazon fulfillment center in Kenosha, last night around midnight.
Parking lot is huge and was full of cars.
Downtown?
It appears that St.Louis, MO, has been rioted out of the running. Can you say ‘karma’?
In the long run, and I don’t know for sure, it’s me, but I don’t like to see these octopi companies spread their tentacles everywhere even if I do buy quite a bit from them. It’s a new experience shopping like that and my buying habits have drastically changed as I don’t like shopping any more but used to get high from going to the stores when younger. I kind of miss that. And I miss the stores that have either gone out of business or moved out of the downtown area. Even my kids have nostalgia for some of it, places we shopped and ate which are no more.
I’m sure a lot of people in the 1920’s were nostalgic for horses, wagons and stage coaches.
Stop buying from that leftist hole that is eating us up. Start finding what you want on the net and go directly to the manufacturer or distributor. Price is often the same and they throw in free shipping. Stop feeing leftist politics that will hang you.
Seattle was sort of lefty back before Amazon was a start up. And it has just accelerated beyond all bounds since then.
It's really incredible and sad what Amazon has done to Seattle residents with their high-paying jobs.
Not many can afford a 2 bedroom apartment at $3000/month?
The rent prices have skyrocketed and that has led to an unprecedented new homeless population and opioid crisis.
Former residents, priced out of their apartments, or who can no longer afford the higher property taxes have resorted to living in their RV's and these RV's are parked all over the city, illegally dumping waste and the good liberals in Seattle are allowing it. Homeless encampments in city parks, parents having to walk across soccer fields before their kid's games to pick-up all the hypodermic needles.
My once great hometown has been turned into a liberal, socialist crime-ridden, drug-ridden, vagrant-ridden sh*thole.
The new city where Amazon erects their new campus better be aware of what else Amazon will bring with them.
They can afford an RV but not a U-Haul?
It's a sad situation brought about by poor city management and, of course liberal policies.
My bet is on Austin.
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