Amazon HQ2 thread

[James Bond Agent 007]

I think it would be cool if they built a campus in Detroit centered around this:
https://www.google.com/maps/@42.3289...1e3?force=lite
Or maybe fill up these parking lots here:
https://www.google.com/maps/@42.3320...1e3?force=lite

[chris08876]

Originally Posted by AbortedWalrus

Here in Philly would be pretty perfect.

The Navy Yard literally ticks every box of their requirements:

Philly would be nice. Also provide ample job opportunities for fellow New Jerseyans. Commuters to the Philly Metro. Likewise for adjacent PA counties.

Although for shit and giggles, it would be sweet from a NJ standpoint if that city were Newark NJ. That would be a massive boost to the city that has been growing, but not on a big level.

[The North One]

The criteria:

In choosing the location for HQ2, Amazon has a preference for:

Metropolitan areas with more than one million people
A stable and business-friendly environment
Urban or suburban locations with the potential to attract and retain strong technical talent
Communities that think big and creatively when considering locations and real estate options

HQ2 could be, but does not have to be:

An urban or downtown campus
A similar layout to Amazon’s Seattle campus
A development-prepped site. We want to encourage states and communities to think creatively for viable real estate options, while not negatively affecting our preferred timeline.

https://www.geekwire.com/2017/amazon...mpus-50k-jobs/

[James Bond Agent 007]

A development-prepped site.

That's probably going to really narrow down the potential available sites. You would need several blocks of contiguous ownership if it's going to be a center city site, or a large suburban parcel.

[bnk]

http://www.chicagobusiness.com/artic...amazons-2nd-hq

September 07, 2017

Emanuel wooing Bezos for Amazon's second HQN



Jeff Bezos - Bloomberg
Photo by Bloomberg Jeff Bezos


Amazon is looking for a second headquarters, and the Second City is very interested.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel has spoken to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos about the possibility, says one source close to City Hall.



Amazon dropped a bombshell this morning, announcing that it's looking outside its home base of Seattle for a second headquarters that would employ up to 50,000 people. The company is willing to spend up to $5 billion to build the new base, calling it HQ2.

Amazon knows Illinois well. It's in the midst of building eight warehouses and will employ up to 8,000 people in Illinois by the end of next year. It also has an office downtown that employs 200 workers. The company recently doubled its lease there to 70,000 square feet. Amazon also recently announced a new sorting center.


...

...

Emanuel has been one of the most energetic salesmen for Chicago, landing relocations such as ConAgra, and has close relationships with a lot of tech leaders, dating to his days in the White House as President Barack Obama's chief of staff. Google has picked Chicago as one of its hubs outside of Silicon Valley and now has more than 750 workers here.


...

[bnk]

Originally Posted by The North One

The criteria:



https://www.geekwire.com/2017/amazon...mpus-50k-jobs/

Originally Posted by k1052

Reading the RFP they want:

Within 30 miles of pop center

45 minutes to international airport ww/ frequent favorable distance and schedules to e/w coasts

1-2 miles to major highways

access to mass transit AT SITE

minimum 500,000 sq ft initial footprint by 2019
Up to 8M sq ft by 2027

Optimal fiber optic connectivity

The importance of adhering to their time table is mentioned several times in the document. I think I know somebody who can deliver any and all required entitlements at the speed of light...

I would put the best odds on Chicago at this point.

[James Bond Agent 007]

In Chicago I'm wondering if this would be big enough? Maybe combined with some surrounding parcels (if available)?

[Ant131531]

You have to wonder...Can Seattle simply not handle the growth of Amazon anymore? Kind of bizzare for the company to be completely rebuilding a new headquarters in a completely different city. Gotta feel for Seattle. Kind of feels like a betrayal of sorts.

My predicted top 5 in no particular order are DC, Dallas, Atlanta, Chicago and Philly. I just can't see them choosing anywhere else at this point in time. It just sounds like to me they want a metro area bigger than Seattle.

[k1052]

Originally Posted by James Bond Agent 007

In Chicago I'm wondering if this would be big enough? Maybe combined with some surrounding parcels (if available)?

I was trying to confine my boosterism to the Chicago economic thread and rationality to this one lol.

I don't think the Related site works for this. It would, however, figure into the housing picture that could help make a decision. Chicago has a fair number of large fully entitled multi-phase residential developments backed by people with deep pockets in the pipeline already.

[chris08876]

Originally Posted by James Bond Agent 007

In Chicago I'm wondering if this would be big enough? Maybe combined with some surrounding parcels (if available)?

Just resurrect the Illinois tower , which had 18 mil-sq ft, parking for 15k cars, and was a mile high. Build it in Chicago, and call it a day. The influx of jobs would help fuel demand for residential, and cause a tremendous boom for the area.


Credit: wiki

That 5 billion could aid a lot.

[James Bond Agent 007]

Does anyone know how many sq ft of office space would be needed to accommodate 50K workers?

[AbortedWalrus]

Originally Posted by chris08876

Philly would be nice. Also provide ample job opportunities for fellow New Jerseyans. Commuters to the Philly Metro. Likewise for adjacent PA counties.

Although for shit and giggles, it would be sweet from a NJ standpoint if that city were Newark NJ. That would be a massive boost to the city that has been growing, but not on a big level.

It would be sweeter from an NJ standpoint if it were in Camden. And it would be a huge shocker, but it would sort of make sense too.

[The North One]

Originally Posted by Ant131531

You have to wonder...Can Seattle simply not handle the growth of Amazon anymore? Kind of bizzare for the company to be completely rebuilding a new headquarters in a completely different city. Gotta feel for Seattle. Kind of feels like a betrayal of sorts.

My predicted top 5 in no particular order are DC, Dallas, Atlanta, Chicago and Philly. I just can't see them choosing anywhere else at this point in time. It just sounds like to me they want a metro area bigger than Seattle.

You're looking at this completely the wrong way, Amazon needs tons of room to grow and they don't want to follow the same mistakes the Bay Area did. Seattle is already getting really expensive and congested which is reducing the quality of life, this is good for Seattle really and Amazon. This is exactly what they should be doing and what companies like Apple should have done a very long time ago.

I don't think they'd ever choose cities like Atlanta unless they got some extreme government handouts since Atlanta already has awful congestion problems, is expensive and is built horribly for density. Atlanta's airport is also a total nightmare, there is no way they want to deal with that. If they pick Texas it's gonna be Austin, Dallas and Houston have no chance.

[Randomguy34]

Originally Posted by James Bond Agent 007

Does anyone know how many sq ft of office space would be needed to accommodate 50K workers?

The RFP says they want 8 million sqft by 2027 in order to accommodate all the workers. Even if the entire Chicago Post Office site is used (2.5 mil sqft), they would still need about 5.5 mil sqft of office space. To put that in perspective, the Sears Tower only has 4.5 mil sqft.

[bnk]

The old Chicago Post office could fit the bill IMO initially and there were previous plans to add millions of more of SQ ft... http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...192697&page=43

[ http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?t=192697
The first phase calls for construction of about 4.5 million square feet, including the residential and hotel tower and a six-level deck on the building’s eastern side. The deck would allow for passage over Congress Parkway and would form a base of parking floors for an envisioned second-phase tower that could hit enter the ranking of world’s tallest buildings. In a final phase, a tower could be built west of the post office.]






https://www.bizjournals.com/chicago/...ns-second.html



By Jim Dallke
– Chicago Inno,

Sep 7, 2017, 10:42am CDT


In breaking but not shocking news, Chicago plans to apply for Amazon’s newly announced second headquarters.



...

It’s not a surprise that Chicago would vie for Amazon’s new headquarters. The city, through World Business Chicago—the city’s public/private economic development unit—has aggressively sought corporate relocations. Earlier this year Chicago was named the top city in the U.S. for corporate relocations for the fourth year in a row, as the Chicago metro area saw more new and expanding corporate locations than any area in the country.

And Chicago has a history of attracting corporate relocations from Seattle. Boeing moved its headquarters from Seattle to Chicago in 2001, though a majority of Boeing jobs remain in Seattle.

“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,” Klinzman said in an email. “That’s also why Chicago has led the nation in corporate relocations for the last four years.”

Amazon knows Chicago and the state of Illinois well. The online retail giant has office space in Chicago and several warehouses in the suburbs.


...

[James Bond Agent 007]

Originally Posted by Randomguy34

The RFP says they want 8 million sqft by 2027 in order to accommodate all the workers. Even if the entire Chicago Post Office site is used (2.5 mil sqft), they would still need about 5.5 mil sqft of office space. To put that in perspective, the Sears Tower only has 4.5 mil sqft.

I see. Thanks! Well then, as I said, those criteria are really going to narrow down potential sites!

[James Bond Agent 007]

The other Chicago location I was thinking of was the old US Steel site. It would easily have enough room though the location isn't top-notch (except for the lake view).

[ithakas]

Originally Posted by Randomguy34

The RFP says they want 8 million sqft by 2027 in order to accommodate all the workers. Even if the entire Chicago Post Office site is used (2.5 mil sqft), they would still need about 5.5 mil sqft of office space. To put that in perspective, the Sears Tower only has 4.5 mil sqft.

There's also a hefty amount of office space planned for the Union Station redevelopment a block away from the Old Post Office, and there's the full city block across the street from the Old Post Office with nothing but a small Holiday Inn, a couple single-story retail buildings, and a large parking lot.

There's also those two mega-developments in the works right across the river for their young urban workforce to call home...

EDIT: Forgot to mention the two sites for office towers adjacent to 311 Wacker as well...

[JManc]

Personally I think AMZN should choose Schenectady. Or Toledo.

[Austin55]

While unlikely, here's some fun stats for Fort Worth.

Amazon's 8 million square feet of office space would be 58% of the entire existing downtown office market space (currently 13.7 million sqft) and would be 36% if an additional 8 million square feet were constructed. For comparison, XTO (currently the largest employeer in DT, but leaving soon for suburban Houston) is a little over 5% (They occupy 700,000 sqft).

8 million more square feet would be about 8 Burnett Plazas (1,024,627) or 777 Mains (1,025,252).

Here's some of the largest suburban campuses, for reference. (Texas-centric)

Exxon's Woodlands Campus is 3 million sqft and can hold 10,000 employees. The Pentagon is 6.5 million with 23k employees. USAA's McDermott Building in San Antonio is over 20k employees in 4.4 million sqft. Toyota's Plano HQ is 2 million with 4k employees.