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OT: HBG proposal for AMZN hub (link)

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Don't really think Harrisburg has a shot at this. Of all of the potential sites in Pennsylvania, Philadelphia seems to fit a lot of Amazon's desired qualifications, but Pittsburgh has CMU has a potential wild card. No matter where they pick, I don't really see Amazon going with a city any smaller than Pittsburgh.
 
Raffycorn said:
Don't really think Harrisburg has a shot at this. Of all of the potential sites in Pennsylvania, Philadelphia seems to fit a lot of Amazon's desired qualifications, but Pittsburgh has CMU has a potential wild card. No matter where they pick, I don't really see Amazon going with a city any smaller than Pittsburgh.
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Doubt they go with a city as small as Pittsburgh honestly. WalMart as an example is having a very hard time attracting talent, there acquisition of Jet not withstanding.
 
AldenT said:
Doubt they go with a city as small as Pittsburgh honestly. WalMart as an example is having a very hard time attracting talent, there acquisition of Jet not withstanding.
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Agreed - I think Pittsburgh has a pretty decent chance of punching above its weight class and being on Amazon's eventual short list, but I think they ultimately lose out to a city like Philly or Atlanta that just have a larger work force, more amenities, and better transportation infrastructure.

I do think Pittsburgh has a better chance - probably the best chance - of cities of its general size because of the talent that comes out of Carnegie Mellon and the ability for Amazon to move in to shovel-ready sites like the Civic Arena and Almono. There aren't many cities that have the kind of open land so close to the city center and universities that Pittsburgh has, but I ultimately don't think it will be enough.
 
I think transportation will be Pittsburgh's undoing. No beltway around the city, some cities have two, an inner loop and an outer one. The T just goes to the North Shore and through downtown to the South Hills, that's it.

Plus, not everyone likes fries and cole slaw on their sandwich.
 
Raffycorn said:
Agreed - I think Pittsburgh has a pretty decent chance of punching above its weight class and being on Amazon's eventual short list, but I think they ultimately lose out to a city like Philly or Atlanta that just have a larger work force, more amenities, and better transportation infrastructure.

I do think Pittsburgh has a better chance - probably the best chance - of cities of its general size because of the talent that comes out of Carnegie Mellon and the ability for Amazon to move in to shovel-ready sites like the Civic Arena and Almono. There aren't many cities that have the kind of open land so close to the city center and universities that Pittsburgh has, but I ultimately don't think it will be enough.
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Plus, the airport has some unused capacity.
 
Moody's Analytics has philly and Pittsburgh as the top two cities when weighing all of Amazon's criteria. Philly's proximity to DC and NY gave it a leg up.
 
lionville said:
Moody's Analytics has philly and Pittsburgh as the top two cities when weighing all of Amazon's criteria. Philly's proximity to DC and NY gave it a leg up.
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What about DC? Checks a lot of the boxes - educated workforce, major airports, good public transportation system, lots of land, etc.
 
lionville said:
Housing too expensive to attract the employees they are looking for.
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Not really - plenty of land and access to DC in Loudoun County. Reasonable prices too. Saw the average salary at Amazon is over $100,000. Having said that, I’m fine without them here - traffic is bad enough. I think Denver has the best shot.
 
Harrisburg seems like a good choice. Lowest cost of living. 2 hrs to DC and Philly. 3 to NY. A little over 3 to Pitt. 1.5 hrs to Baltimore.
 
Raffycorn said:
Don't really think Harrisburg has a shot at this. Of all of the potential sites in Pennsylvania, Philadelphia seems to fit a lot of Amazon's desired qualifications, but Pittsburgh has CMU has a potential wild card. No matter where they pick, I don't really see Amazon going with a city any smaller than Pittsburgh.
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No shit?
 
Midnighter said:
Not really - plenty of land and access to DC in Loudoun County. Reasonable prices too. Saw the average salary at Amazon is over $100,000. Having said that, I’m fine without them here - traffic is bad enough. I think Denver has the best shot.
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Tell that to Moody's.
 
Midnighter said:
Article I saw from Moody’s had Austin #1 and Atlanta #2. Pittsburgh was #5, Philly #3.
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That's not counting geography - a more subjective factor. If you think that Amazon might be very interested in a location in the eastern time zone and/or along the I-95/Acela corridor, Philadelphia jumps to #1 and Pittsburgh was #2 or #3.
 
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This recent news has led speculation that it will be near Washington, D.C.:

Amazon founder and Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos has spent $23 million to buy the biggest home in the city in one of Washington's most elite neighborhoods.
 
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Richard the LIONhearted said:
http://www.pennlive.com/news/2017/10/harrisburg_amazon_bid_proposal.html

UPark listed as a major component for the proposal for a research university to supply talent and intellectual skill.

Does the legislature not see the economic value of this institution to the Commonwealth?
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PA has little chance of landing Bezo's HQ2. Souther California real estate mogul Don Bren sent a letter to Bezos offering to finance the entire $5B headquarters if he selects Irvine CA. Doubt PA could compete with an offer like that.
 
My guess is that it will go in the SE, probably a much more family friendly and tax friendly state for its employees. Like it or not, Pitt, Philly and Harry are not "draws" when it comes to luring employees. FL, GA, SC, NC, VA are all states where people want to live. Frankly, I think it will end up in TX.
 
Hugh Laurie said:
PA has little chance of landing Bezo's HQ2. Souther California real estate mogul Don Bren sent a letter to Bezos offering to finance the entire $5B headquarters if he selects Irvine CA. Doubt PA could compete with an offer like that.
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well, no city needs to compete with that offer, because HQ2 will not be in California
 
Obliviax said:
My guess is that it will go in the SE, probably a much more family friendly and tax friendly state for its employees. Like it or not, Pitt, Philly and Harry are not "draws" when it comes to luring employees. FL, GA, SC, NC, VA are all states where people want to live. Frankly, I think it will end up in TX.
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agree, TX or NC
 
Obliviax said:
My guess is that it will go in the SE, probably a much more family friendly and tax friendly state for its employees. Like it or not, Pitt, Philly and Harry are not "draws" when it comes to luring employees. FL, GA, SC, NC, VA are all states where people want to live. Frankly, I think it will end up in TX.
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That is what you want to think. You are letting your politics drive your thinking.
 
GreggK said:
That is what you want to think. You are letting your politics drive your thinking.
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I have no political affinity to the SE, I live in CLE for god's sake. A big part of employment is being able to get people to move there. This comes with 5,000 employees. Seriously, who wants to pack up and move to Philly or Pitt? Philly is expensive, housing is high, traffic is a problem, the airport sucks and weather is bad. Plus, PA taxes are high (~41). Pitt has a great airport, not a hub though, transportation and weather is a problem. Still, state taxation is high. Problem is that Pitt would have a problem quickly absorbing 5,000 new emplyees (housing, schooling, transportation, etc.).


The state may give breaks to AMZN but not to their employees..and one never knows how legislation is going to change given this is a 50 year decision.

Who knows....its political...bezos owns the Washington Post so he may want to have more presence there.
 
Obliviax said:
I have no political affinity to the SE, I live in CLE for god's sake. A big part of employment is being able to get people to move there. This comes with 5,000 employees. Seriously, who wants to pack up and move to Philly or Pitt? Philly is expensive, housing is high, traffic is a problem, the airport sucks and weather is bad. Plus, PA taxes are high (~41). Pitt has a great airport, not a hub though, transportation and weather is a problem. Still, state taxation is high. Problem is that Pitt would have a problem quickly absorbing 5,000 new emplyees (housing, schooling, transportation, etc.).
The state may give breaks to AMZN but not to their employees..and one never knows how legislation is going to change given this is a 50 year decision.
Who knows....its political...bezos owns the Washington Post so he may want to have more presence there.
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Who wants to pack up their kids and move to the South East? Florida? Yuck. Just my perspective. Also, to me, Philly seems cheap and would be the perfect place for it.
You also won't need to lure talent because talent is already there. Same with NYC, it is already there. I doubt it would ever move to NYC for various reasons, but it would make much more sense than Florida. Heck, Wilmington Delaware would make more sense to me than Florida or South Carolina.
 
Amazon's primary recruiting base skews towards younger recent college/PhD graduates both from the United States and overseas. I'd bet you dollars to donuts that that demographic tends to prefer to live and work in more urban areas, and I think Amazon would find it much easier to recruit young people to come work in an urban campus in a city like Philadelphia, Boston or Chicago. Very few cities are going to be able to organically supply 50,000 employees to fill these jobs; they're primarily going to be filled through relocation and recruiting.
 
GreggK said:
Who wants to pack up their kids and move to the South East? Florida? Yuck. Just my perspective. Also, to me, Philly seems cheap and would be the perfect place for it.
You also won't need to lure talent because talent is already there. Same with NYC, it is already there. I doubt it would ever move to NYC for various reasons, but it would make much more sense than Florida. Heck, Wilmington Delaware would make more sense to me than Florida or South Carolina.
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I understand individual preferences, but they aren't looking at 5,000 GreggK's. One look at migration in the USA tells you all you need to know. And while there is talent in Philly and NY, it isn't cheap and it is already employed.

I don't think Philly is a cheap place to live. Just compare housing costs in ATL or Charlotte versus Philly.
 
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My bet is it goes to NVA, one of the few states that is actually investing in new infrastructure AND upgrading existing infrastructure, lots of talent, large number of quality universities, 3 airports within 1 hour drive, and a large number of interstates.
 
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Obliviax said:
I understand individual preferences, but they aren't looking at 5,000 GreggK's. One look at migration in the USA tells you all you need to know. And while there is talent in Philly and NY, it isn't cheap and it is already employed.

I don't think Philly is a cheap place to live. Just compare housing costs in ATL or Charlotte versus Philly.
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People aren’t moving south and west for employment, they’re moving from high earning/high tax states to retire to cheap areas. Aetna just moved from that coastal elite cesspool of Connecticut to....New York City. People flock to these areas for a reason.

WalMart bought Jet.com and kept it in Hoboken precisely because they can’t get anything but organic talent to Bentonville. Amazon may not be looking for 5000 GreggKs but they’re looking for an awful lot of them.
 
john4psu said:
This recent news has led speculation that it will be near Washington, D.C.:

Amazon founder and Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos has spent $23 million to buy the biggest home in the city in one of Washington's most elite neighborhoods.
Click to expand...

Bezos owns the Washington Post and is spending more time there. Not sure that will impact where Amazon's HQ2 will be.
 
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Under Armour wanted to put a large presence in the Harrisburg area, but Harrisburg wouldn't give them the tax breaks they wanted.

Amazon is also seeking a ton of tax breaks, so I can't see Harrisburg winning here, either.
 
john4psu said:
This recent news has led speculation that it will be near Washington, D.C.:

Amazon founder and Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos has spent $23 million to buy the biggest home in the city in one of Washington's most elite neighborhoods.
Click to expand...

That tells me DC has no shot. You don't shit where you eat.
 
AldenT said:
People aren’t moving south and west for employment, they’re moving from high earning/high tax states to retire to cheap areas. Aetna just moved from that coastal elite cesspool of Connecticut to....New York City. People flock to these areas for a reason.

WalMart bought Jet.com and kept it in Hoboken precisely because they can’t get anything but organic talent to Bentonville. Amazon may not be looking for 5000 GreggKs but they’re looking for an awful lot of them.
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Exactly, I think that is what some people fail to realize that there is an immense amount of talent up north. Numbers that dwarf the south. New York has more college graduates than Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina combined. New York has more college graduates than Texas with Millions less in population.

I will say though, if I had to put my money on a place, it would be Texas or the North east.
 
john4psu said:
I think transportation will be Pittsburgh's undoing. No beltway around the city, some cities have two, an inner loop and an outer one. The T just goes to the North Shore and through downtown to the South Hills, that's it.

Plus, not everyone likes fries and cole slaw on their sandwich.
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Agree. Amazon will want to pick a place that will be attractive to talented employees. Pittsburgh's transportation system sucks. Also, Pittsburgh has horrific weather. Fewer sunny days than any city other than Seattle. Cold and miserable in the winter. Hot and miserable in the summer. Short fall and short spring.
 
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interrobang said:
Under Armour wanted to put a large presence in the Harrisburg area, but Harrisburg wouldn't give them the tax breaks they wanted.

Amazon is also seeking a ton of tax breaks, so I can't see Harrisburg winning here, either.
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Harrisburg has absolutely no shot. Whoever is spending resources on these proposals should cut it off now. Total waste of everybody's time and money.
 
I 'm not saying it's definitely going to be in this area but there are 4 proposals for the Baltimore/DC/Nova area, somehow one of them makes the final cut.
 
Other regional cities making a pitch:

Wilmington, DE -- three potential sites:

1. The old Claymont Steel site. A new Amtrak station is currently under construction there.

2. The Riverfront. Most of the north side of the Riverfront has been developed, but the southern bank is still largely empty. Walking distance to Wilmington's Amtrak station.

3. A large site at 202 and 141 that is largely empty but once housed Astra Zeneca.

http://www.delawareonline.com/story...ils-its-longshot-pitch-amazon-hq-2/779313001/

Chester, PA (I'm not kidding)

http://www.philly.com/philly/busine...city-to-compete-for-amazons-hq2-20171018.html

Camden

http://www.courierpostonline.com/st...outlines-proposed-amazon-hq-2-site/781339001/
 
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