https://www.geekwire.com/2017/six-cities-amazon-consider-second-headquarters/

^ Is Ohio even in the running?

^That's just a clickbait list. 

^That's just a clickbait list.

 

Yeah he even notes at the end that it's just his opinion

How many east coast cities have the land and infrastructure available? The RFP said the first phase would be around 500,000 sqft of office space, with up to 8 million sqft over 10 years. Ironically if Amazon prefers urban areas over greenfield, most Midwest rust-belt cities would have more and cheaper development ready land. Cleveland has several huge areas downtown that are ripe for infill:

 

(1) 20 acres north of Browns stadium, owned by the city, under site control by Cumberland/Tramell Crow.

 

(2) 8 acres of mostly contiguous surface parking in Warehouse Disctrict owned by Weston, plus several more acres under control of few owners, like Stark.

 

(3) 50 acres of brownfield on Scranton Peninsula under control of two owners -- Scranton Averell Trust, and now EWAT Holdings. Plus numerous acres east across the river that was just sold earlier this year.

 

(4) Unknown # of acres along future Opportunity Corridor road. Though this might be difficult due to the number of property owners.

 

The RFP calls for up to 8,000,000 square feet of office space.  For reference, Key Tower is 1.6 mil, so you're looking at up to 5 new Key Towers.  If Cleveland submits a bid, one potential site not previously listed would be the Muni Lots south of Burke.

Scranton Peninsula is another Cleveland option. You could even cobble together a site that straddled the Cuyahoga if you incorporate the Casino phase II site.

A new Amazon campus would be a great way to completely remake the Queensgate area. Replace the low density light industrial with high density mix of office, residential, and retail. Since it's in the downtown basin, it would be extremely easy to add transit connections to Downtown and OTR.

I know we're all in hypothetical land here... But I think any possibility of landing Amazon HQ2 would see them taking 5-6 blocks of Midtown / Campus district. The areas South of St. Claire, North of Carnegie, East of East 18, and West of East 105th.

Former Huntington Building in Cleveland is about 1 million square feet.  Add in JHB it could handle the phase 1 and 2 maybe.  Then a short hop over to the Greyhound Station and surrounding parking lots for the remainder. 

I'm really curious how a submission to this RFP would even work? How many applicants can even promise site control of so much contiguous land in an urban setting? Seems like really would require a former airport or giant industrial site or something.

I'm really curious how a submission to this RFP would even work? How many applicants can even promise site control of so much contiguous land in an urban setting? Seems like really would require a former airport or giant industrial site or something.

 

Oddly enough... Columbus can. Currently Franklinton, which is literally across from downtown is basically a blank slate ripe for development. Much of the property in Franklinton is city owned with Mt. Carmel about to free up even more space, its an up and coming creative neighborhood, plus it has the benefit of being on high frequency bus corridors of Broad and Town streets that could easily become LRT corridors.

 

Anyway, I think things are about to get interesting... and maybe brutal with this competition.

This would come as a risk to whoever wins this bid. Fuel prices will not be low forever. Retailers can fight back with lower prices themselves.

I honestly think Ohio has a fighting chance with this one. As mentioned previously Ohio already has a significant Amazon presence that is only going to become more significant over the next few years.

 

Amazon already has plans on expanding their presence in the north suburbs of Columbus, from three to fifteen data centers, which will be a significant amount of the companies computing power. They are continuing to add more fulfillment centers across the state and the international cargo hub is at CVG. If I were a company I would want to have key executives to as much of this as possible.

 

I also think Amazon's contract with AEP being made was made public was conveniently right before Amazon said it was looking for a location for HQ2, and we will never know what is really in the blacked out portion of the contract Amazon has with AEP. Not sure if I think this is coincidence...

I'm really curious how a submission to this RFP would even work? How many applicants can even promise site control of so much contiguous land in an urban setting? Seems like really would require a former airport or giant industrial site or something.

 

Oddly enough... Columbus can. Currently Franklinton, which is literally across from downtown is basically a blank slate ripe for development. Much of the property in Franklinton is city owned with Mt. Carmel about to free up even more space, its an up and coming creative neighborhood, plus it has the benefit of being on high frequency bus corridors of Broad and Town streets that could easily become LRT corridors.

 

Anyway, I think things are about to get interesting... and maybe brutal with this competition.

 

Not to mention the sea of parking lots on the east end of downtown. I think this would be more then enough space for an urban Amazon campus.

I honestly think Ohio has a fighting chance with this one. As mentioned previously Ohio already has a significant Amazon presence that is only going to become more significant over the next few years.

 

Amazon already has plans on expanding their presence in the north suburbs of Columbus, from three to fifteen data centers, which will be a significant amount of the companies computing power. They are continuing to add more fulfillment centers across the state and the international cargo hub is at CVG. If I were a company I would want to have key executives to as much of this as possible.

 

I also think Amazon's contract with AEP being made was made public was conveniently right before Amazon said it was looking for a location for HQ2, and we will never know what is really in the blacked out portion of the contract Amazon has with AEP. Not sure if I think this is coincidence...

 

Also this was passed by city council a few weeks ago, very interesting. I certainly think we could be in the running or a serious contender...

 

http://www.dispatch.com/news/20170727/city-council-crafting-incentives-for-firms-with-big-plans

This news might not be news to everyone.  We had the mysterious work stoppage in Cincinnati at the 4th & Race site, a ripe location in the center of downtown for an office tower instead the apartments that are planned and awaiting financing.   

I honestly think Ohio has a fighting chance with this one. As mentioned previously Ohio already has a significant Amazon presence that is only going to become more significant over the next few years.

 

Amazon already has plans on expanding their presence in the north suburbs of Columbus, from three to fifteen data centers, which will be a significant amount of the companies computing power. They are continuing to add more fulfillment centers across the state and the international cargo hub is at CVG. If I were a company I would want to have key executives to as much of this as possible.

 

I also think Amazon's contract with AEP being made was made public was conveniently right before Amazon said it was looking for a location for HQ2, and we will never know what is really in the blacked out portion of the contract Amazon has with AEP. Not sure if I think this is coincidence...

 

Also this was passed by city council a few weeks ago, very interesting. I certainly think we could be in the running or a serious contender...

 

http://www.dispatch.com/news/20170727/city-council-crafting-incentives-for-firms-with-big-plans

 

I forgot about this! It goes in line with the wording of the search for HQ2. Especially adding making a point to add the words high paying jobs. I also HIGHLY doubt that Amazon doesn't have a list of cities they are already talking with, but they are going to leverage this as much as possible for a tax incentives.

My guess is Boston seaport area.  Seattle is the closest city to Europe and way cheaper than NYC.  The south waterfront has plenty of space. 

 

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Boston,+MA/@42.3469342,-71.0494175,1413m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x89e3652d0d3d311b:0x787cbf240162e8a0!8m2!3d42.3600825!4d-71.0588801

I honestly think Ohio has a fighting chance with this one. As mentioned previously Ohio already has a significant Amazon presence that is only going to become more significant over the next few years.

 

Amazon already has plans on expanding their presence in the north suburbs of Columbus, from three to fifteen data centers, which will be a significant amount of the companies computing power. They are continuing to add more fulfillment centers across the state and the international cargo hub is at CVG. If I were a company I would want to have key executives to as much of this as possible.

 

I also think Amazon's contract with AEP being made was made public was conveniently right before Amazon said it was looking for a location for HQ2, and we will never know what is really in the blacked out portion of the contract Amazon has with AEP. Not sure if I think this is coincidence...

 

With the way everything is laid out currently with their operations in the region Columbus makes sense.  Fulfillment centers in all of the 3-C's, expansion of data centers in central Ohio.  Huntington, WV has a large call-center and all of that is within 3 hours of Columbus.  Franklinton or the 3rd-4th Street corridor has plenty of land ripe for development of a new facility at a fraction of what it would cost in Austin/Nashville makes even more sense.  Also one thing not mentioned in here is the $50 Million 'Smart City' grant that Columbus won earlier this year can't hurt. 

 

Also this which is open for "business":

http://www.columbusunderground.com/amazon-opening-first-retail-pick-up-store-in-columbus

 

The front-runner development team for the Scioto Peninsula project is proposing a 1.2M sqft office/technology campus as part of their scheme. Together with NRI's Franklinton land, the available Mt Carmel/Graham Ford site, vacant land in around CSCC/Discovery District, and the proposed streetcar in COTA's NextGen plan linking all these areas together... That could be a pretty compelling proposal for HQ2.

Amazon's $5 billion 'HQ2': Will Ohio put in a bid?

By Tristan Navera  –  Reporter, Columbus Business First

 

 

Amazon wants cities to bid for a $5 billion second headquarters in North America. Is Ohio competitive for the project?

 

The mega-company's announcement on Thursday that it is hunting for a site for a second headquarters, or "HQ2," is certain to create fierce competition between states and cities looking to land the site and the projected 50,000 jobs that go with it.

 

https://www.bizjournals.com/cincinnati/news/2017/09/07/amazons-5-billionhq2-will-ohio-put-in-a-bid.html

If they locate in Cincinnati they could poach all of Kroger/Dunhumby's marketing and analytics people.

Maybe just the opposite will happen.  Considering how stressful and demanding working at the Seattle Death Star actually is, and how high the attrition rate is there, I expect a stream of ex-Amazon employees will soon be crawling over to 84.51 with tears in their eyes.  Poor little yuppie over-achievers gotta work somewhere, you know...  :roll:

If they locate in Cincinnati they could poach all of Kroger/Dunhumby's marketing and analytics people.

Maybe just the opposite will happen.  Considering how stressful and demanding working at the Seattle Death Star actually is, and how high the attrition rate is there, I expect a stream of ex-Amazon employees will soon be crawling over to 84.51 with tears in their eyes.  Poor little yuppie over-achievers gotta work somewhere, you know...  :roll:

 

I think you have a distorted view of what working there is actually like.

That $5 billion is an interesting number since that's nearly the exact same amount the new Apple Headquarters cost to build. That should give people an idea the scale they're talking about.

 

If they locate in Cincinnati they could poach all of Kroger/Dunhumby's marketing and analytics people.

Maybe just the opposite will happen.  Considering how stressful and demanding working at the Seattle Death Star actually is, and how high the attrition rate is there, I expect a stream of ex-Amazon employees will soon be crawling over to 84.51 with tears in their eyes.  Poor little yuppie over-achievers gotta work somewhere, you know...  :roll:

 

I think you have a distorted view of what working there is actually like.

Perhaps, but not necessarily to any great extent.  Review this link first, then research other such links about working for Jeff Bezos in his Seattle HDQ...

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/16/technology/inside%2Damazon%2Dwrestling%2Dbig%2Dideas%2Din%2Da%2Dbruising%2Dworkplace.html

If they locate in Cincinnati they could poach all of Kroger/Dunhumby's marketing and analytics people.

Maybe just the opposite will happen.  Considering how stressful and demanding working at the Seattle Death Star actually is, and how high the attrition rate is there, I expect a stream of ex-Amazon employees will soon be crawling over to 84.51 with tears in their eyes.  Poor little yuppie over-achievers gotta work somewhere, you know...  :roll:

 

It'd be interesting to see the dynamic with competitor Kroger but it's also been suggested by pundits that they may straight up buy Macy's. Wonder if that would factor into their plans.

Nothing really new here, but Cincinnati and Cleveland are included The Washington Post's list of 39 cities most likey to land HQ2:

 

Local leaders across North America are suddenly competing to host the second headquarters of Amazon, one of the world’s largest e-commerce platforms. But an analysis by The Washington Post shows that only a few dozen metropolitan areas fit the criteria set out by the technology giant in an announcement Thursday.

Officials representing St. Louis, Nashville, Pittsburgh, and Tulsa all proclaimed their interest and signaled their intention to bid for Amazon’s new HQ. Many local governments are expected to offer generous tax incentives and other deals to lure the online retailer to town.

 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2017/09/08/this-map-shows-the-39-cities-likeliest-to-win-amazons-new-headquarters-contest/?utm_term=.7aedd5715a0e

I am quite skeptical of the 50k number.  It would take quite awhile to simply get to 5,000 -- perhaps five years.  The business could change so much in ten years that this much-vaunted "second headquarters" could be a bit of a bust. 

 

For such a large business it seems that logistics should be split between the west and east.  That's how trucking companies do it now -- or rather very few trucking companies operate nationwide terminals.  It's still an oddly regional business.  The mountain time zone is huge and almost nobody lives there. 

 

So I don't know why Amazon would pick a second office hub somewhere on the west coast, as some elsewhere have suggested. 

On first glance I thought it'd definitely go to the Northeast based on the talent that's there, but Ohio actually makes sense from a geographic standpoint.... central location between the midwest, south, and northeast. Unfortunately I think a lot of high skilled workers don't have a good association with Ohio and they will want to move to somewhere like Charlotte or Nashville over Ohio.

I agree that logistically it wouldn't make sense to have it on the west coast. 

 

Does anyone know if any cities (or economic development arms) in Ohio have publicly stated that they intend to reply to the RFP?  While perhaps it is a long shot, Cleveland damn well better submit!

I'm also skeptical of the numbers being thrown about, and there is a pretty good chance that long term plan like this for a company that operates in such a dynamic space may not come to fruition.

 

Taking a step further back, the idea of an "HQ2" is so strange that they probably already have a city in mind to begin with. But I guess it worked for the Roman Empire.

Here is some Cincinnati analysis by WCPO:

http://www.wcpo.com/news/insider/does-cincinnati-have-what-it-takes-to-land-amazon-headquarters-?page=2

 

Cites Oakley, Blue Ash Airport, and Camp Marydale as possible sites.  No mention of Queensgate and minimal mention of Downtown. 

 

Obviously, there is tons of land in DT Cincinnati either on The Banks or on the various parking lots near Central Parkway over by the Charles St. substation.  Which has subway access. 

In this announcement, I think the first step is inclusion. What cities meet the most basic criteria.  All 3Cs meet the criteria.  They should get proposals of land/sites available that is near transit or can be made transit friendly from a list of 25-35 cities with acquisition costs.  Houston, New Orleans, and Florida cities would not make the list due to hurricane risk and being at sea level.  West coast cities would not make the list since they would likely want the Hq in a separate time zone.  I don't disqualify the airports in Ohio since if this is brought in i think the airlines would gear up to handle the additional traffic.

  This isn't a standalone project. If this goes forward, there will be construction, architect, and design companies coming in from all over the world to get a piece of this.  There will be improved effort on part of the state to upgrade transit and infrastructure. There will be other complementary businesses wanting to be closer and have offices near the new hq like a bigger Cisco presence and other IT and software companies.  That could add another 10-20k workers at least. With construction jobs and ancillary jobs it is adding probably 100,000 new jobs total to a city over 10 years.

 

Here is some Cincinnati analysis by WCPO:

http://www.wcpo.com/news/insider/does-cincinnati-have-what-it-takes-to-land-amazon-headquarters-?page=2

 

Cites Oakley, Blue Ash Airport, and Camp Marydale as possible sites.  No mention of Queensgate and minimal mention of Downtown. 

 

Obviously, there is tons of land in DT Cincinnati either on The Banks or on the various parking lots near Central Parkway over by the Charles St. substation.  Which has subway access.

 

Those three options are a freakin' JOKE. I would suggest those involved with the bid visit Seattle and the existing campus.  They're not coming out and saying it, but IT HAS TO BE DOWNTOWN. Blue Ash and Oakley are not interesting enough. They may be interesting to you, but not to Amazon. There's simply too much competition. I hope our leaders have awareness of this.

 

It is almost tailor made for the Banks. The Banks needs higher wage office jobs because lower wage office jobs tend to stay in the suburbs.

I agree that logistically it wouldn't make sense to have it on the west coast. 

 

Does anyone know if any cities (or economic development arms) in Ohio have publicly stated that they intend to reply to the RFP?  While perhaps it is a long shot, Cleveland damn well better submit!

 

I tweeted the question, "who will be submitting on behalf of Cleveland?" And Stan Bullard of Crain's Cleveland Business retweeted my tweet. So hopefully we will get some answers soon.

, but IT HAS TO BE DOWNTOWN. Blue Ash and Oakley are not interesting enough. They may be interesting to you, but not to Amazon. There's simply too much competition. I hope our leaders have awareness of this.

 

It is almost tailor made for the Banks. The Banks needs higher wage office jobs because lower wage office jobs tend to stay in the suburbs.

 

Yeah, The Banks is the very obvious place for Cincinnati.  We also have numerous large parking lots in the downtown.  Plus the IRS site long-term, plus the Ovation site. 

 

They could get a building on the existing parking pad south of GE very quickly -- perhaps 18 months, then fill out the other blocks in 24-30.  The availability of those prime parcels elevate's Cincinnati's not-so-longshot bid. 

 

Again, the presence of the Prime Air Hub and Macy's and Kroger makes Cincinnati a much more interesting candidate than any other mid-sized city.  The only other mid-sized city with an interesting situation is Austin, which obviously has the Whole Foods HQ.  One of my friends from high school (a former locker partner, no less) works for Whole Foods corporate in Austin and said he believes it's going there.  Then again, everyone at GM thought the west coast Camaro plant was going to get shut down because they were putting a new roof on the Norwood plant when it was shuddered. 

 

Amazon's trying to get all these cities worked into a lather to increase the company's buzz. For the first time in the company's history a large number of people are becoming sarcastic about the company and they want to counter that. For years, it was only people who hang around stock market websites doubting the company but now it's not just them.

Ouch...from a Wooster Ohio guy:

 

 

Six cities Amazon should consider for its second headquarters

 

by John Cook on September 7, 2017 at 7:14 am

 

Cities you won’t find on our list: New York (too expensive, too big); San Francisco (too expensive, too close to Seattle); and Cleveland (Sorry to my Buckeye comrades, it’s still Cleveland!).

 

https://www.geekwire.com/2017/six-cities-amazon-consider-second-headquarters/

^That joke is getting real old.

Amazon's trying to get all these cities worked into a lather to increase the company's buzz. For the first time in the company's history a large number of people are becoming sarcastic about the company and they want to counter that. For years, it was only people who hang around stock market websites doubting the company but now it's not just them.

 

Yeah they're getting tons of free publicity out of this.  To that end, if they "rescue" a rust belt city, they will be seen as heroes. 

Amazon's trying to get all these cities worked into a lather to increase the company's buzz. For the first time in the company's history a large number of people are becoming sarcastic about the company and they want to counter that. For years, it was only people who hang around stock market websites doubting the company but now it's not just them.

 

Yeah they're getting tons of free publicity out of this.  To that end, if they "rescue" a rust belt city, they will be seen as heroes.

 

That's why I think Cincinnati has a chance- were semi-Rust Belt and they are taking direct aim at the rest of our businesses. There's a political dimension to this so they don't get cast as the villain in large parts of the country. (And subsequently aren't targeted by politicians.)  I don't understand why they would be doing it otherwise.

Ouch...from a Wooster Ohio guy:

 

 

Six cities Amazon should consider for its second headquarters

 

by John Cook on September 7, 2017 at 7:14 am

 

Cities you won’t find on our list: New York (too expensive, too big); San Francisco (too expensive, too close to Seattle); and Cleveland (Sorry to my Buckeye comrades, it’s still Cleveland!).

 

https://www.geekwire.com/2017/six-cities-amazon-consider-second-headquarters/

 

Interesting comments section. One thing I don't quite get is the idea that Pittsburgh has a clear advantage over the Ohio cities. Even if Pittsburgh does have a larger pool of tech students, will those grads not relocate a few hours away for a job? 

Every website around has been publishing these lists, so why not another one?

 

5 U.S. cities Amazon should consider for HQ2

 

https://venturebeat.com/2017/09/07/5-u-s-cities-amazon-should-consider-for-hq2/

 

 

That's why I think Cincinnati has a chance- were semi-Rust Belt and they are taking direct aim at the rest of our businesses. There's a political dimension to this so they don't get cast as the villain in large parts of the country. (And subsequently aren't targeted by politicians.)  I don't understand why they would be doing it otherwise.

 

Wal-Mart has retained folksy cred by staying in Bentonville, a city that might be smaller than Akron or Canton.  They don't seem to have trouble attracting talent. 

 

 

 

 

What Amazon’s HQ2 Wish List Signals About the Future of Cities

https://hbr.org/2017/09/what-amazons-hq2-wish-list-signals-about-the-future-of-cities

I am quite skeptical of the 50k number. It would take quite awhile to simply get to 5,000 -- perhaps five years. The business could change so much in ten years that this much-vaunted "second headquarters" could be a bit of a bust. 

...

So I don't know why Amazon would pick a second office hub somewhere on the west coast, as some elsewhere have suggested. 

 

Look at the history of Amazon. This is not a pie in the sky number - not to mention they have a significant number scattered about already and could see consolidation into a new hq. just speculation.

 

As far as west coast, I agree it doesn't offer much benefit. I wouldn't consider the presence of macy's or kroger to be a significant factor. Other tech companies would be more relevant. Even more so, the presence of reputable colleges that pump out talent is likely higher on the list.

 

Perhaps, but not necessarily to any great extent. Review this link first, then research other such links about working for Jeff Bezos in his Seattle HDQ...

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/16/technology/inside%2Damazon%2Dwrestling%2Dbig%2Dideas%2Din%2Da%2Dbruising%2Dworkplace.html

 

I agree that article distorts the picture.

 

Wal-Mart has retained folksy cred by staying in Bentonville, a city that might be smaller than Akron or Canton.  They don't seem to have trouble attracting talent. 

 

From a quick look, a lot of Walmart's tech/analytics jobs are located in California. E.g.:

https://careers.walmart.com/us/jobs/874052BR-product-manager-retail-core-engine-sunnyvale-ca

 

Also, Walmart has a lot of hilarious job titles in their listings. Things like "Senior Buyer, Salty Snacks-Sams."

 

They kind of had to create the scene in Bentonville on their own. It wasn't easy.

Was there a date mentioned at all by Amazon in regards to when they will announce the location of hq2?