Amazon HQ2 thread

[IrishIllini]

Originally Posted by iheartthed

That is exactly what DART is in my recollection. My experience with DART is over a decade old, but sounds like it might still be current. The train line I used did have a lot of track miles, but only because it is an attempt to connect downtown to some very sprawled out and car-centric areas. I took the DART from downtown Dallas, which is reasonably pedestrian friendly, to one of the malls that was supposedly accessible from the train line. It felt like about a 20-30 minute ride on the train with only a handful of stops between downtown and the mall. From the stop it was a pretty long walk to the actual mall itself (maybe half a mile?), a lot of it through the malls sprawling parking lot. There was no transit oriented development around that stop to speak of at the time.

A half mile walk isn't bad in an urban environment IMO. I have a 0.3 mile walk to the L from my house and a 0.25 mile from the L to work. I used to have to walk 0.5 miles from my house to the L and it was very manageable. Walking through a truly urban environment is considerably more pleasant than walking through seas of parking lots and vacant parcels. That (among other things) undeniably contributes to the low use of transit in DFW.

[dubu]

Am I the only one that thinks this is meh. Unless it’s a cool steampunk building. Or something new. I kinda like the new jursy one with all the plants or trees.

[JManc]

Originally Posted by IrishIllini

A half mile walk isn't bad in an urban environment IMO.

yeah but you live in Chicago where it can get to like -50. That half mile might as well be 10 miles in that weather.

[10023]

Originally Posted by JManc

yeah but you live in Chicago where it can get to like -50. That half mile might as well be 10 miles in that weather.

I’d much rather that than walk half a mile across a parking lot in 100 degrees with humidity.

[cannedairspray]

Originally Posted by CIA

Post renderings of your favorite Amazon HQ2 proposal.

South Baltimore, piggybacking on DC:

[mhays]

Curvy towers are loved by many including me, but not by most office tenants. How do you get efficient floor plans and standardized desks into odd shapes that vary every floor, with columns perpetually in inconvenient locations? Is architectural flair worth a substantial added cost?

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by 10023

I’d much rather that than walk half a mile across a parking lot in 100 degrees with humidity.

me to. you can always layer up for cold. there ain't shit you can do for heat.

besides, it never actually gets to -50 in chicago. that's a textbook j-man exaggeration.

the coldest it has ever been in recorded history in chicago is -27 back in january of 1985 (i was in 4th grade at the time and school was cancelled due to the cold).

and in an average january, the lowest low is usually about -3, and even then the below zero shit is typically only a few bitterly cold mornings a year. it's not like it's routinely below zero all winter long in chicago.

january highs/lows average 32/18. that's certainly cold to a texan, but it's honestly not that big of a deal if you're a chicagoan who's acclimated to it.

[IrishIllini]

Originally Posted by JManc

yeah but you live in Chicago where it can get to like -50. That half mile might as well be 10 miles in that weather.

Lol, it's never -50 in Chicago. Weather in Chicago is so exaggerated it's past the point of being comical. Average high in January (coldest month) is 32, which honestly isn't bad if you're wearing a real coat. I can be outside for extended periods of time at 32 degrees. The trickiest part is avoiding icy sidewalks .

[Sun Belt]

Originally Posted by 10023

I’d much rather that than walk half a mile across a parking lot in 100 degrees with humidity.

Both scenarios are not ideal for anyone, especially for execs that could have a Caddy idling on the curb with the AC or heat blowing with a bottle of water or other adult beverages and a USA Today standing by for entertainment while on transport to the airport or private jet at a local field.

[cannedairspray]

Originally Posted by Steely Dan

the coldest it has ever been in recorded history in chicago is -27 back in january of 1985 (i was in 4th grade at the time and school was cancelled due to the cold).

I remember 92 or 93, school being cancelled due to a windchill of -55 or something.

That was cool because I took the CTA at the time, and from my house to the bus was nothing, and waiting for a transfer downtown was also usually fine. But walking from Michigan Ave to Ogden Elementary was fucking brutal with the wind tunnels near Bloomingdale's.

[photoLith]

Alaska Air just announced today that daily flights from Seattle to Pittsburgh will start next year. Hopefully that increases the chances for Pittsburgh...

[Reverberation]

Originally Posted by Crawford

I can't think of any reason why DART would be more successful in the future than in the past.

Dallas has never been more sprawly, decentralized or auto oriented than today. U.S. transit ridership is dropping overall, even in cities where transit makes sense. Dallas has decent incomes and easy mobility. Cars are cheap in the U.S. Dallas is hot and getting hotter. Why would the city ever be transit-oriented?

You can lease a brand new car for $150 or so. Outside of the poor and some uber-urbanite types, how many people are gonna take public transit in a place like Dallas, where everything is oriented around auto mobility?

Dallas has been very successful at PPP's. Many of the suburban DART stations will eventually become town centers. Some already are. Garland (pop. 235k) has a station downtown. So does Plano (270k), The strategy going in was partially to put urban stations into areas where surrounding blocks could be built at higher densities. It's been happening for years now.

[JManc]

^ Plano and Garland are suburban 'park and rides' and not really accessible to their respective downtown by foot esp. Garland. The locals get into their cars and drive into Dallas.

Originally Posted by IrishIllini

Lol, it's never -50 in Chicago. Weather in Chicago is so exaggerated it's past the point of being comical. Average high in January (coldest month) is 32, which honestly isn't bad if you're wearing a real coat. I can be outside for extended periods of time at 32 degrees. The trickiest part is avoiding icy sidewalks .

Come on now. We all know Chicago is colder than the surface of Titan. And when you're not dying of hypothermia, you're getting shot at from all directions.

[Jonesy55]

Originally Posted by Reverberation

Some already are. Garland (pop. 235k) has a station downtown. So does Plano (270k), The strategy going in was partially to put urban stations into areas where surrounding blocks could be built at higher densities. It's been happening for years now.

But how many of those 235-270k residents actually live within a say 1km radius of those stations to make it a practical option? And beyond commuting to work and back would they be able to live conveniently for other day to day stuff like grocery shopping, kids getting to school/activities, entertainment and nightlife etc without a car?

[Crawford]

Originally Posted by Reverberation

Dallas has been very successful at PPP's. Many of the suburban DART stations will eventually become town centers. Some already are. Garland (pop. 235k) has a station downtown. So does Plano (270k), The strategy going in was partially to put urban stations into areas where surrounding blocks could be built at higher densities. It's been happening for years now.

Plano and Garland are two of the most auto-oriented, anti-urban places on the planet. They're really sprawly and car-crazy even for Texas standards.

I cannot imagine that the residents of these towns are magically going to ditch their cars and start taking transit.

[BnaBreaker]

Originally Posted by photoLith

Alaska Air just announced today that daily flights from Seattle to Pittsburgh will start next year. Hopefully that increases the chances for Pittsburgh...

I doubt it, because every city supposedly above it in the rankings already has multiple direct flights to Seattle... but Id love it if a place like PBG got it!

[IrishIllini]

Originally Posted by BnaBreaker

I doubt it, because every city supposedly above it in the rankings already has multiple direct flights to Seattle... but Id love it if a place like PBG got it!

Agreed. Chicago < Detroit < St. Louis < Pittsburgh < Philadelphia for me

[C.]

Originally Posted by IrishIllini

Agreed. Chicago < Detroit < St. Louis < Pittsburgh < Philadelphia for me

WTF? Philly hater

[LouisVanDerWright]

Originally Posted by jshdodd

Not sure if this has been posted yet:

In the contest for the new Amazon headquarters, Victory Park has thrown their marbles in the bid with some really interesting concepts.

I personally love this concept








http://dallas.towers.net/2017/10/04/...or-amazon-hq2/

Is this really what they sent to Amazon? I guess they were trying to appeal to Bezos' 1990's sensibilities.

[C.]

Originally Posted by CIA

Post renderings of your favorite Amazon HQ2 proposal.

One more from a joint proposal from El Paso, Juarez, and Sunland Park, New Mexico


The Amazon campus will be at half in the United States and half in Mexico. It will also intersect the Texas and New Mexico state line.

U.S. Border Patrol agents would be stationed on the campus, according to Davin Lopez, president and CEO of MVEDA. However, other details about how to keep the campus secure on the border will have to be discussed, he said.
"It's not unprecedented to have a private sector border crossing," Lopez told CNN Tech. "With all the different discussions that are taking place in D.C. regarding amnesty and immigration ... This is a different solution. It's an opportunity for the private sector such as Amazon to be part of that answer."
"Instead of building bridges or walls, we're building a border economy here," he added. If chosen, Lopez expects the new facility would boost the economies of both the U.S. and Mexico.

http://money.cnn.com/2017/10/27/tech...bid/index.html

El Paso+Ciudad Juárez+Sunland Park's bid is better than Dallas