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Personally, I think it's one of the three locations in Washington—Arlington—Alexandria. Of all the finalists, it's the only metro area that's broken into three.

Personally, I think it's one of the three locations in Washington—Arlington—Alexandria. Of all the finalists, it's the only metro area that's broken into three. Every other finalist represents an entire metro area, but Amazon lists DC, NoVa, and Montgomery County as separate finalists. The implication of this is that even if Amazon was going to pick from the finalists at random, that metro area has three times the chances of any other. On a deeper level, I think it means that they've already decided on putting HQ2 in the Washington—Arlington—Alexandria MSA, but they haven't yet decided what part of the MSA they're going to put it in, and they're going to have the three real finalists duke it out amongst themselves. It makes sense: Amazon has some pretty deep ties to the area. Their original AWS datacenters are in NoVa. Jeff Bezos owns the Washington Post. Bezos also just bought a house in DC. The area is just as much home to Amazon as Seattle is. Edit: Also, as a Texan myself, there's no way anything in Texas is going to get HQ2 with our LGBT-hostile state legislature. It's the same reason people are saying that Indianapolis might as well be disqualified due to the Indiana state legislature refusing to pass a hate crimes bill. Given what our legislature tried to pull this year, Amazon isn't going to touch us. And you can bet they'll try again in 2019, and Joe Straus won't be there to stop them.

pm90 9y ago
> Edit: Also, as a Texan myself, there's no way anything in Texas is going to get HQ2 with our LGBT-hostile state legislature. It's the same reason people are saying that Indianapolis might as well be disqualified due to the Indiana state legislature refusing to pass a hate crimes bill. Given what our legislature tried to pull this year, Amazon isn't going to touch us. And you can bet they'll try again in 2019, and Joe Straus won't be there to stop them. They are up for election this year and even though it seems likely that the Governor won't change, other seats seem much more competitive.
Animats 9y ago
Bezos also just bought a house in DC. That's where it will be. The Wall Street Journal once noted that about 70% of corporate HQ moves move it closer to the CEO's place of residence.
- notatoad 9y ago
  Bezos didn't move to DC, just bought a house there. He's got plenty of houses. I agree that the DC area is the most likely possibility for HQ2, but bezos buying a house there is a relatively unimportant indicator.
  - Animats 9y ago
    OK. Other than that, DC is a poor place to move a big administrative operation. No space for a big campus unless you go way out beyond the Beltway.
    - amyjess 9y ago
      Montgomery County, MD would be perfect, then. And if they're going for NoVa, there's a lot of space in Loudoun County.
- wedaugtwo 9y ago
  That's a very interesting stat. Bezos has 5 houses that reporters know about [1]. They are in Medina (WA), Beverly Hills (CA), Van Horn (TX), Manhattan (NY), and D.C. Of these 5 known places, his Beverly Hills, Manhattan, and D.C. houses are close enough to the HQ2 finalists. If we assume the rumors of Amazon wanting an East Cost presence, then we can narrow it down to NY and D.C. 1. http://www.businessinsider.com/jeff-bezos-owns-five-massive-homes-across-the-united-states-2017-10/ http://www.businessinsider.com/jeff-bezos-owns-five-massive-...
JBlue42 9y ago
I think this is a good call. Not to mention public transit and good air connections. As to your edit, I wonder if this is a Bezos way of not-so-subtly trying to push those type of legislatures to change their tune on that and other issues. Maybe beyond wanting to get a sweet tax break deal, there's a bit of soft power and influence Bezos is trying to bring to bear to tell state legislatures that being adverse to things like people's sexuality, women's health, etc. isn't good for business. Might be reading too much into all that but it's interesting to think about.

pm90 9y ago

> Edit: Also, as a Texan myself, there's no way anything in Texas is going to get HQ2 with our LGBT-hostile state legislature. It's the same reason people are saying that Indianapolis might as well be disqualified due to the Indiana state legislature refusing to pass a hate crimes bill. Given what our legislature tried to pull this year, Amazon isn't going to touch us. And you can bet they'll try again in 2019, and Joe Straus won't be there to stop them. They are up for election this year and even though it seems likely that the Governor won't change, other seats seem much more competitive.

Animats 9y ago

Bezos also just bought a house in DC. That's where it will be. The Wall Street Journal once noted that about 70% of corporate HQ moves move it closer to the CEO's place of residence.

notatoad 9y ago
Bezos didn't move to DC, just bought a house there. He's got plenty of houses. I agree that the DC area is the most likely possibility for HQ2, but bezos buying a house there is a relatively unimportant indicator.
- Animats 9y ago
  OK. Other than that, DC is a poor place to move a big administrative operation. No space for a big campus unless you go way out beyond the Beltway.
  - amyjess 9y ago
    Montgomery County, MD would be perfect, then. And if they're going for NoVa, there's a lot of space in Loudoun County.
wedaugtwo 9y ago
That's a very interesting stat. Bezos has 5 houses that reporters know about [1]. They are in Medina (WA), Beverly Hills (CA), Van Horn (TX), Manhattan (NY), and D.C. Of these 5 known places, his Beverly Hills, Manhattan, and D.C. houses are close enough to the HQ2 finalists. If we assume the rumors of Amazon wanting an East Cost presence, then we can narrow it down to NY and D.C. 1. http://www.businessinsider.com/jeff-bezos-owns-five-massive-homes-across-the-united-states-2017-10/ http://www.businessinsider.com/jeff-bezos-owns-five-massive-...

JBlue42 9y ago

I think this is a good call. Not to mention public transit and good air connections. As to your edit, I wonder if this is a Bezos way of not-so-subtly trying to push those type of legislatures to change their tune on that and other issues. Maybe beyond wanting to get a sweet tax break deal, there's a bit of soft power and influence Bezos is trying to bring to bear to tell state legislatures that being adverse to things like people's sexuality, women's health, etc. isn't good for business. Might be reading too much into all that but it's interesting to think about.