4 ms·

I'm surprised that no one has mentioned Pittsburgh yet. uber did some early self driving pilots there. CMU is there. Google has a large office there. Amazon ha

I'm surprised that no one has mentioned Pittsburgh yet. uber did some early self driving pilots there. CMU is there. Google has a large office there. Amazon has also started hiring software engineers for an office in Pittsburgh too. Cost of living is very cheap. Many upsides to Pittsburgh. I don't know what the city could afford in terms of subsidies though.

DanCarvajal 9y ago
PA Corporate tax is one of the highest in the country. Though it's not a terrible option.
- 1_2__4 9y ago
  Effective rate, or published rate?
  - pc86 9y ago
    9.99% net income. It's flat so there is no "effective" rate.
- thinkling 9y ago
  How does that affect a company like Amazon that cam claim its primary HQ in another state, and its actual realized revenue as mostly in other states? What part of Amazon's profits would get taxed in PA?
  - DanCarvajal 9y ago
    Most states have tax nexus rules where that doesn't matter as much anymore. They'd certainly pay PA corporate tax on PA income, then PA payroll on every employee.
- notyourday 9y ago
  Philadelphia has gross receipts tax. It is a no go.
  - DanCarvajal 9y ago
    So does Washington State though.
jimktrains2 9y ago
Apple and Microsoft also have a presence here.
francisofascii 9y ago
Pittsburgh was my first thought. Northeast near DC/NYC, colleges, low cost (for now), a city with good bones
- mcgrath_sh 9y ago
  I have mixed feelings about this for Pittsburgh. The main con is 50,000 tech jobs in this city means a lot of new people. Being conservative, we can call it 30,000 new families. I think that will cause chaos in the housing market and increase the cost of living. I'm not sure about it. There is real estate downtown that (I believe) is still undeveloped and unplanned where the Igloo was. The biggest issue I see is travel. There are no direct flights almost anywhere from PIT.
ynniv 9y ago
They mention at-site transit in the RFP, and the transit in Pittsburgh seems light.
- Johnny555 9y ago
  It's pretty light in Seattle too
  - chupapuma 9y ago
    As a Seattlite, I kind of wonder if this isn't in response to our lack of transit. We have some possibility of improvement, but it is almost 20 years out for my neighborhood and Amazon is growing super fast. Since they can't stem the growth to the rate of infrastructure development, maybe they can offset the growth to another city. And that city needs infra already waiting. Of course this narrows down city choice significantly.
- tomschlick 9y ago
  To the suburbs, yes. Just a few park-n-ride lots. Inside the city to downtown is pretty good though. Lots of busses to downtown and oakland from the most popular neighborhoods (East Liberty, Shadyside, Lawrenceville, etc).
numbsafari 9y ago
Philly sits halfway between NYC and DC, via Amtrak or I-95. They could get in on the new project to cap the rail yards next to 30th Street Station and find themselves situated between the University of Pennsylvania and Drexel campuses, with Temple University a stone's throw away and Princeton accessible via NJT/SEPTA regional rail. There's also available suburban sites in Southern NJ and Malvern, PA that are accessible via mass transit, the Navy Yard (which desperately needs a subway spur) and tons of developable/reclaimable industrial space in North Philly. Given how accommodating PHL has been with Comcast, I'm sure Amazon could get what they need.
tanilama 9y ago
Agree, when tech company choose sites, they tends to locate near schools. Somewhere in Midwest is no go, since Amazon would find it difficult to recruit people. I would say Pittsburgh is a reasonable bet.

DanCarvajal 9y ago

PA Corporate tax is one of the highest in the country. Though it's not a terrible option.

1_2__4 9y ago
Effective rate, or published rate?
- pc86 9y ago
  9.99% net income. It's flat so there is no "effective" rate.
thinkling 9y ago
How does that affect a company like Amazon that cam claim its primary HQ in another state, and its actual realized revenue as mostly in other states? What part of Amazon's profits would get taxed in PA?
- DanCarvajal 9y ago
  Most states have tax nexus rules where that doesn't matter as much anymore. They'd certainly pay PA corporate tax on PA income, then PA payroll on every employee.
notyourday 9y ago
Philadelphia has gross receipts tax. It is a no go.
- DanCarvajal 9y ago
  So does Washington State though.

jimktrains2 9y ago

Apple and Microsoft also have a presence here.

francisofascii 9y ago

Pittsburgh was my first thought. Northeast near DC/NYC, colleges, low cost (for now), a city with good bones

mcgrath_sh 9y ago
I have mixed feelings about this for Pittsburgh. The main con is 50,000 tech jobs in this city means a lot of new people. Being conservative, we can call it 30,000 new families. I think that will cause chaos in the housing market and increase the cost of living. I'm not sure about it. There is real estate downtown that (I believe) is still undeveloped and unplanned where the Igloo was. The biggest issue I see is travel. There are no direct flights almost anywhere from PIT.

ynniv 9y ago

They mention at-site transit in the RFP, and the transit in Pittsburgh seems light.

Johnny555 9y ago
It's pretty light in Seattle too
- chupapuma 9y ago
  As a Seattlite, I kind of wonder if this isn't in response to our lack of transit. We have some possibility of improvement, but it is almost 20 years out for my neighborhood and Amazon is growing super fast. Since they can't stem the growth to the rate of infrastructure development, maybe they can offset the growth to another city. And that city needs infra already waiting. Of course this narrows down city choice significantly.
tomschlick 9y ago
To the suburbs, yes. Just a few park-n-ride lots. Inside the city to downtown is pretty good though. Lots of busses to downtown and oakland from the most popular neighborhoods (East Liberty, Shadyside, Lawrenceville, etc).

numbsafari 9y ago

Philly sits halfway between NYC and DC, via Amtrak or I-95. They could get in on the new project to cap the rail yards next to 30th Street Station and find themselves situated between the University of Pennsylvania and Drexel campuses, with Temple University a stone's throw away and Princeton accessible via NJT/SEPTA regional rail. There's also available suburban sites in Southern NJ and Malvern, PA that are accessible via mass transit, the Navy Yard (which desperately needs a subway spur) and tons of developable/reclaimable industrial space in North Philly. Given how accommodating PHL has been with Comcast, I'm sure Amazon could get what they need.

tanilama 9y ago

Agree, when tech company choose sites, they tends to locate near schools. Somewhere in Midwest is no go, since Amazon would find it difficult to recruit people. I would say Pittsburgh is a reasonable bet.