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I wonder if New York is just New York City, or New York Metropolitan region. I guess including Newark makes the latter unlikely, but with IBM shuttering a chun

I wonder if New York is just New York City, or New York Metropolitan region. I guess including Newark makes the latter unlikely, but with IBM shuttering a chunk of its operations here, the Hudson Valley is full of empty IBM office parks and desperate local governments, while close to infrastructure.

bradleyjg 9y ago
It's pretty far from a decent airport. HPN and SWF have flights to only a few destinations and the only mass transit that services them are buses. Poughkeepsie to EWR is no less than 2.5 hours on public transportation and 1.5 hours by car. About the same for JFK. Newburgh and Fishkill are even worse.
- saalweachter 9y ago
  Yeah, I'm real curious how much that factors into things. I think the "no mass transit" problem isn't really a real problem; most American cities don't have mass transit that is good enough for people visiting from another office to use. I've tried visiting Mountain View with and without renting a car, and it's technically possible, but I gave up on not. Buses are perfectly cromulent forms of mass transit, but tend to be too scary for visitors to use (buses can go anywhere, and it is very confusing/stressful to try to figure out if you are at the right stop and if the bus that just stopped is the right bus, when you are unfamiliar with the system). I can see the objection to not being a hub airport from both ends. As a normal traveler, SWF is great: easy to get to, park, and navigate, not too expensive, and pretty much anywhere I'm going is one connection away. From the perspective of a company, yeah, I can see it being a bigger negative. The VPs may not personally want to take non-direct flights, the costs might be more noticeable, and if your destinations are also second-tier airports, you're now talking probably two connections. Especially for what's supposed to be their #2 office, a hub airport may just be a hard constraint. The upper Hudson Valley probably is too far from New York to really mooch off of its infrastructure, but the lower Hudson Valley (Peekskill, Croton Harmon) probably isn't; however, not coincidentally, you've got a lot more empty office parks in the upper HV cities you mentioned.
52-6F-62 9y ago
How far is Newark from the old Bell labs. Didn't that building just undergo renovations and is starting to house some tech companies? As much as I'd like to see Toronto happen, if I was being on the decision panel for that, the old Bell labs building would be mighty tempting for completely selfish reasons.
- gjmarsh 9y ago
  Not sure which Bell Labs. Newark is ~30 min both by car and train during Rush from Murray Hill... which is in the Middle of some of the nicest suburbs in the state. The other you might be talking about is Holmdel. Thats at least an hour down the GSP and I think train would be at least that.
  - 52-6F-62 9y ago
    Sorry, I meant Holmdel. Interesting, thanks.

bradleyjg 9y ago

It's pretty far from a decent airport. HPN and SWF have flights to only a few destinations and the only mass transit that services them are buses. Poughkeepsie to EWR is no less than 2.5 hours on public transportation and 1.5 hours by car. About the same for JFK. Newburgh and Fishkill are even worse.

saalweachter 9y ago
Yeah, I'm real curious how much that factors into things. I think the "no mass transit" problem isn't really a real problem; most American cities don't have mass transit that is good enough for people visiting from another office to use. I've tried visiting Mountain View with and without renting a car, and it's technically possible, but I gave up on not. Buses are perfectly cromulent forms of mass transit, but tend to be too scary for visitors to use (buses can go anywhere, and it is very confusing/stressful to try to figure out if you are at the right stop and if the bus that just stopped is the right bus, when you are unfamiliar with the system). I can see the objection to not being a hub airport from both ends. As a normal traveler, SWF is great: easy to get to, park, and navigate, not too expensive, and pretty much anywhere I'm going is one connection away. From the perspective of a company, yeah, I can see it being a bigger negative. The VPs may not personally want to take non-direct flights, the costs might be more noticeable, and if your destinations are also second-tier airports, you're now talking probably two connections. Especially for what's supposed to be their #2 office, a hub airport may just be a hard constraint. The upper Hudson Valley probably is too far from New York to really mooch off of its infrastructure, but the lower Hudson Valley (Peekskill, Croton Harmon) probably isn't; however, not coincidentally, you've got a lot more empty office parks in the upper HV cities you mentioned.

52-6F-62 9y ago

How far is Newark from the old Bell labs. Didn't that building just undergo renovations and is starting to house some tech companies? As much as I'd like to see Toronto happen, if I was being on the decision panel for that, the old Bell labs building would be mighty tempting for completely selfish reasons.

gjmarsh 9y ago
Not sure which Bell Labs. Newark is ~30 min both by car and train during Rush from Murray Hill... which is in the Middle of some of the nicest suburbs in the state. The other you might be talking about is Holmdel. Thats at least an hour down the GSP and I think train would be at least that.
- 52-6F-62 9y ago
  Sorry, I meant Holmdel. Interesting, thanks.