7 ms·

Its basically most of the major metro areas in North America >500 miles away from Seattle. Doesn't seem to be cutting it down much.

by rb808 9y ago

jasode 9y ago
My guess is that Amazon isn't _seriously_ considering all 20 cities equally. Instead, they privately already have 2 or 3 particular cities in mind and the other 18 cities are just there for negotiating leverage for the 2 they really want. The problem is that the cities themselves don't know if they're "really in contention" or just "disposable chess pieces". Again, that's just my guess.
- phkahler 9y ago
  Yeah, there's funny concentration of options right by - and including - Washington D.C.
  - joekrill 9y ago
    That's just because the DC area is so spread out. You don't really have to be in DC "proper" to get the benefits of the area. Which I think is different than a lot of other major metro areas. You see the same thing with New York paired with Newark.
    - apcragg 9y ago
      An Amazon HQ2 in Northern Virginia would cripple the already strained road infrastructure, especially given Metro's existing difficulties. Dulles seems like an obvious choice given the tech corridor and proximity to IA but 28 and the toll road are incredibly crowded as it is.
      - deleted 9y ago
        [deleted]
  - awinder 9y ago
    Theres 3 different local / state governments to entice competition from with that setup, and montgomery county just lost Discovery which was a huge employer who they were wooing with a serious comp package. So you throw a spender like that into a competitive situation and you might get some insane offer.
  - cpitman 9y ago
    Yep, this will start yet another bidding war on our area. For the last couple years we've had a constant back and forth of each region trying to claim the new FBI headquarters.
- deegles 9y ago
  They probably decided way before announcing the RFP process.
- bruceb 9y ago
  I agree. Nobody seriously thinks they are going to pick Miami.
  - saosebastiao 9y ago
    I'd be willing to bet that Miami is a favorite amongst at least a couple of people actually making the decision. Miami is the capitol of and gateway to Latin America, and Latin America has enormous potential for growth of ecommerce.
    - cat199 9y ago
      plus direct access to ports on the atlantic..
      - brewdad 9y ago
        With the added bonus of it being completely underwater within 50 years!
        saosebastiao 9y ago
        Meh, the Dutch solved that problem hundreds of years ago.
        deevolution 9y ago
        They also have a completely different mentality about the environment.
        ancientworldnow 9y ago
        The Dutch didn't have to worry about living over porous limestone that floods directly out of the ground (sea walls or not).
        craftyguy 9y ago
        And direct exposure to hurricanes for the parts that are not underwater!
freehunter 9y ago
I agree it's a massive list to have said they've whittled it down much, but I can see some misses. St Louis isn't there, Detroit isn't there, Tampa and Orlando aren't there, Milwaukee isn't there, Phoenix isn't there, Houston isn't there, Minneapolis isn't there, Baltimore isn't there. They put out far too big of a list of candidates, but they have apparently ruled out just as many major metro areas.
- Steltek 9y ago
  > Houston isn't there, I had that somber realization too. Houston has more problems on its mind than bankrolling Amazon's real estate deals.
- Woofles 9y ago
  I'm fairly certain that given Target already has a hold of Minneapolis, there's no way they'd allow Amazon to move in on their turf.
  - LargeWu 9y ago
    It was a major consideration from the standpoint of local and state government here. With both Target and Best Buy headquartered here, it would have ruffled a lot of feathers if Amazon would have received a bunch of handouts that homegrown companies weren't getting, especially since Amazon is completely dominating them both. There are also statutory limits on what incentives the MN state government can provide, on the order of 7 figures and maybe some limited tax breaks; I'm sure it didn't move the needle at all.
    - mncolinlee 9y ago
      Those limits didn't matter when Mayo called in 2013[1]. There's one reason Amazon didn't get any worthwhile tax breaks. The governor's sons own a bunch of Target shares. Amazon was offered $100 per employee. The total package was smaller than St. Paul offered Cray to move 200 employees. And much smaller than the $12k per employee Best Buy got for their HQ. [1] http://www.startribune.com/rochester-mayo-clinic-celebrate-585-million-windfall-from-the-state/208594531/ http://www.startribune.com/rochester-mayo-clinic-celebrate-5...
philipodonnell 9y ago
I'm pretty sure this process was something like 'hey Alexa, what are the 20 largest metropolitan areas more then 500 miles from Seattle.' followed by an email to each one asking how much they would pay for Amazon to come to town. But that's why I'm not in public relations. :-)

Its basically most of the major metro areas in North America >500 miles away from Seattle. Doesn't seem to be cutting it down much.

by rb808 9y ago

Its basically most of the major metro areas in North America >500 miles away from Seattle. Doesn't seem to be cutting it down much.

jasode 9y ago

My guess is that Amazon isn't _seriously_ considering all 20 cities equally. Instead, they privately already have 2 or 3 particular cities in mind and the other 18 cities are just there for negotiating leverage for the 2 they really want. The problem is that the cities themselves don't know if they're "really in contention" or just "disposable chess pieces". Again, that's just my guess.

phkahler 9y ago
Yeah, there's funny concentration of options right by - and including - Washington D.C.
- joekrill 9y ago
  That's just because the DC area is so spread out. You don't really have to be in DC "proper" to get the benefits of the area. Which I think is different than a lot of other major metro areas. You see the same thing with New York paired with Newark.
  - apcragg 9y ago
    An Amazon HQ2 in Northern Virginia would cripple the already strained road infrastructure, especially given Metro's existing difficulties. Dulles seems like an obvious choice given the tech corridor and proximity to IA but 28 and the toll road are incredibly crowded as it is.
    - deleted 9y ago
      [deleted]
- awinder 9y ago
  Theres 3 different local / state governments to entice competition from with that setup, and montgomery county just lost Discovery which was a huge employer who they were wooing with a serious comp package. So you throw a spender like that into a competitive situation and you might get some insane offer.
- cpitman 9y ago
  Yep, this will start yet another bidding war on our area. For the last couple years we've had a constant back and forth of each region trying to claim the new FBI headquarters.
deegles 9y ago
They probably decided way before announcing the RFP process.
bruceb 9y ago
I agree. Nobody seriously thinks they are going to pick Miami.
- saosebastiao 9y ago
  I'd be willing to bet that Miami is a favorite amongst at least a couple of people actually making the decision. Miami is the capitol of and gateway to Latin America, and Latin America has enormous potential for growth of ecommerce.
  - cat199 9y ago
    plus direct access to ports on the atlantic..
    - brewdad 9y ago
      With the added bonus of it being completely underwater within 50 years!
      - saosebastiao 9y ago
        Meh, the Dutch solved that problem hundreds of years ago.
        deevolution 9y ago
        They also have a completely different mentality about the environment.
        ancientworldnow 9y ago
        The Dutch didn't have to worry about living over porous limestone that floods directly out of the ground (sea walls or not).
      - craftyguy 9y ago
        And direct exposure to hurricanes for the parts that are not underwater!

freehunter 9y ago

I agree it's a massive list to have said they've whittled it down much, but I can see some misses. St Louis isn't there, Detroit isn't there, Tampa and Orlando aren't there, Milwaukee isn't there, Phoenix isn't there, Houston isn't there, Minneapolis isn't there, Baltimore isn't there. They put out far too big of a list of candidates, but they have apparently ruled out just as many major metro areas.

Steltek 9y ago
> Houston isn't there, I had that somber realization too. Houston has more problems on its mind than bankrolling Amazon's real estate deals.
Woofles 9y ago
I'm fairly certain that given Target already has a hold of Minneapolis, there's no way they'd allow Amazon to move in on their turf.
- LargeWu 9y ago
  It was a major consideration from the standpoint of local and state government here. With both Target and Best Buy headquartered here, it would have ruffled a lot of feathers if Amazon would have received a bunch of handouts that homegrown companies weren't getting, especially since Amazon is completely dominating them both. There are also statutory limits on what incentives the MN state government can provide, on the order of 7 figures and maybe some limited tax breaks; I'm sure it didn't move the needle at all.
  - mncolinlee 9y ago
    Those limits didn't matter when Mayo called in 2013[1]. There's one reason Amazon didn't get any worthwhile tax breaks. The governor's sons own a bunch of Target shares. Amazon was offered $100 per employee. The total package was smaller than St. Paul offered Cray to move 200 employees. And much smaller than the $12k per employee Best Buy got for their HQ. [1] http://www.startribune.com/rochester-mayo-clinic-celebrate-585-million-windfall-from-the-state/208594531/ http://www.startribune.com/rochester-mayo-clinic-celebrate-5...

philipodonnell 9y ago

I'm pretty sure this process was something like 'hey Alexa, what are the 20 largest metropolitan areas more then 500 miles from Seattle.' followed by an email to each one asking how much they would pay for Amazon to come to town. But that's why I'm not in public relations. :-)