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Amazon looking to build a second HQ in North America, will add 50k jobs

Socivol

Member
Yup. That's honestly why I think Chicago is still in the running
I hope not. I would prefer if they didn't come to Illinois. Unless they decided to put it on the Southside and redevelop some of those areas I don't think it would be worth the tax incentives they would have to give them.
 

Slo

Member
NoVA too. If one still counts Virginia as "the south". I realize the capital of the confederacy is here, but VA sure doesn't feel like the south anymore. Well, unless one heads out to the mountains.

If you can see Washington DC from your house, you're not in the south.
 

Brandson

Member
Toronto has no universities?

Nice chart.

Seriously, we have no universities (at least 3, but could be more depending on how you count), uneducated labour force (tell that to the AI researchers, data scientists, and engineers literally everywhere), and weak airports (only 2), but top notch public transit (what?)... It doesn't seem like anyone from CNBC has ever been to Toronto.
 

Ecotic

Member
Anderson Economic Group did an analysis, including fan favorite Kansas City!

AEG said:
Using measureable factors from the lists above, we have compiled the AEG HQ2 index, which captures a city’s measurable advantage in attracting Amazon’s HQ2. For the 35 cities in the United States that meet specific requirements from the RFP, we estimate their performance using 11 total metrics across three broad categories:

-Access to Labor and Services, including four indicators: degrees granted in relevant fields of study by colleges; employment of workers in specific occupational categories; size of the business services industry; and the number of migrants with bachelor’s degrees from other counties, states, and countries.
-Ease of Transportation, including two indicators: hours of delay due to traffic congestion, and per-capita use of public transit systems.
-Cost of Doing Business, including five indicators: state and local business taxes (using Anderson Economic Group’s Business Tax Burden studies); rental costs for commercial real estate; and unit cost of labor in 3 occupations important to Amazon. Note that this measure of labor costs takes into account worker productivity, meaning that more productive workers can be ranked higher even if their wages are also higher.

37754577056_33047c34d3_b.jpg
 

Zubz

Banned
They acted as if it's a done-deal on Pittsburgh public radio. I kind of doubt we're getting it, but it'd love to see it here!
 

Nitsuj23

Member
Can someone explain to me why Detroit is so low? It seems like the biggest detriment to Detroit is the lack of mass transit.

How in the world was their airport score calculated? Plenty of rankings place Detroit’s airport amongst the top in the nation. Here’s one for example: http://www.jdpower.com/press-releases/jd-power-2017-north-america-airport-satisfaction-study

Also, how is “universities” score calculated? There are plenty of universities. U of M is highly regarded, MSU is no slouch. Then there are schools like Wayne State, Western Michigan, and Central Michigan. Those don’t have the same prestige as a U of M or MSU, obviously, but no lack of higher education. Does Denver, for example, really have better universites than Detroit? If so, what ones?

Detroit public schools are disastourous and in need of help, but Amazon breathing life into the area seems like something that may help there. School districts in metro Detroit are the opposite of Detroit proper. They’re well regarded and would probably be where most Amazon employees live anyway.

Then there’s the ability for employees who can’t get a visa to live in Canada. Plenty of people live in Windsor and work in Detroit.

There’s ample amount of space. I’m sure I’m forgetting things.

And I’m not even suggesting Detroit should be a frontrunner. I just really can’t understand this CNBC graph. The airport rank seems to go against every other list I’ve ever seen and being unranked in universities with U of M and MSU so near is mind boggling.

Oh, and thoughts on this? http://www.detroitmovestheworld.com/
 

NewFresh

Member
They acted as if it's a done-deal on Pittsburgh public radio. I kind of doubt we're getting it, but it'd love to see it here!

I wouldn't be so confident. I think because we've had so much recent tech moving in, including some small amazon offices, people are getting cocky.
 

Magwik

Banned
Can someone explain to me why Detroit is so low? It seems like the biggest detriment to Detroit is the lack of mass transit.

How in the world was their airport score calculated? Plenty of rankings place Detroit’s airport amongst the top in the nation. Here’s one for example: http://www.jdpower.com/press-releases/jd-power-2017-north-america-airport-satisfaction-study

There are plenty of universities. U of M is highly regarded, MSU is no slouch. Then there are schools like Wayne State, Western Michigan, and Central Michigan. Those don’t have the same prestige as a U of M or MSU, obviously, but no lack of higher education. Detroit public schools are disastourous and in need of help, but Amazon breathing life into the area seems like something that may help there. School districts in metro Detroit are the opposite of Detroit proper. They’re well regarded and would probably be where most Amazon employees live anyway.

Then there’s the ability for employees who can’t get a visa to live in Canada. Plenty of people live in Windsor and work in Detroit.

There’s ample amount of space. I’m sure I’m forgetting things.

And I’m not even suggesting Detroit should be a frontrunner. I just really can’t understand this CNBC graph. The airport rank seems to go against every other list I’ve ever seen.

Oh, and thoughts on this? http://www.detroitmovestheworld.com/
Only Wayne State and UM Dearborn are in the area. Henry Ford and Schoolcraft just sort of exist, and the rest are in other counties.
Detroit basically has no transit infrastructure either. No trains, the busses suck, and if they go with the suggested area in Southfield, Telegraph/75/96 will be a fucking nightmare.
 

Nitsuj23

Member
Only Wayne State and UM Dearborn are in the area. Henry Ford and Schoolcraft just sort of exist, and the rest are in other counties.
Detroit basically has no transit infrastructure either. No trains, the busses suck, and if they go with the suggested area in Southfield, Telegraph/75/96 will be a fucking nightmare.

The suggested area is not in Southfield. It’s downtown. Dan Gilbert is even offering to temporairly move his employees out of his buildings until Amazon properly moves into whichever building they choose (if it were to happen). If I recall correctly, Southfield was going to submit their own bid. I could be wrong.

And actually no to your traffic nightmare. Straight from Detroit proposal site, “Best of all, of the 15 largest metro areas, Detroit drivers spend the least amount of time in traffic congestion during peak periods.“

Like I said, the mass transit is the biggest detriment and why I could see Detroit being eliminated.

Still not understanding the criteria on airports. And do they mention required proximity to university for it to be considered as part of the city’s attractiveness? I guess I’ve never considered U of M or MSU that far from Detroit. Surely they’d attract grads from both schools if they were in Detroit.

Not that Wiki is the be all end all, but https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metro_Detroit#Education
 

kirblar

Member
Can someone explain to me why Detroit is so low? It seems like the biggest detriment to Detroit is the lack of mass transit.

How in the world was their airport score calculated? Plenty of rankings place Detroit's airport amongst the top in the nation. Here's one for example: http://www.jdpower.com/press-releases/jd-power-2017-north-america-airport-satisfaction-study

Also, how is ”universities" score calculated? There are plenty of universities. U of M is highly regarded, MSU is no slouch. Then there are schools like Wayne State, Western Michigan, and Central Michigan. Those don't have the same prestige as a U of M or MSU, obviously, but no lack of higher education. Does Denver, for example, really have better universites than Detroit? If so, what ones?

Detroit public schools are disastourous and in need of help, but Amazon breathing life into the area seems like something that may help there. School districts in metro Detroit are the opposite of Detroit proper. They're well regarded and would probably be where most Amazon employees live anyway.

Then there's the ability for employees who can't get a visa to live in Canada. Plenty of people live in Windsor and work in Detroit.

There's ample amount of space. I'm sure I'm forgetting things.

And I'm not even suggesting Detroit should be a frontrunner. I just really can't understand this CNBC graph. The airport rank seems to go against every other list I've ever seen and being unranked in universities with U of M and MSU so near is mind boggling.

Oh, and thoughts on this? http://www.detroitmovestheworld.com/
Primarily because the types of employees they're going to want to attract aren't going to want to move to Detroit. City's decaying. You want to move somewhere that's growing.

Ignoring the "too big" cities on the AEG list, Atlanta/Philly/DC are next up and are all up and coming cities.
 

Nitsuj23

Member
Primarily because the types of employees they're going to want to attract aren't going to want to move to Detroit. City's decaying.

Ignoring the "too big" cities on the AEG list, Atlanta/Philly/DC are next up and are all up and coming cities.

In what ways is the city decaying? I walk around downtown everyday, so I’m sure I’m bias, but the amount of construction is staggering. Even the transformation in the last two years in pretty crazy.

New skyscraper coming: http://www.freep.com/story/money/bu...t-architecture-hudsons-development/663439001/

Old skyscraper being restored: https://detroit.curbed.com/2017/8/25/16202926/book-tower-restoration-video

Plenty of other stuff: https://detroit.curbed.com/maps/map-detroit-construction-development


Ugh post like yours really peeve me. “City’s decaying” with no shred of evidence.


Our decaying new arena:
 

soco

Member
The smartest decision they could do would be to choose one of the cheapest cities with a reasonable sized airport, and one not too close to other tech companies. They're in a different situation from most companies, and having a second headquarters could easily allow people to choose between a city experience (which differs somewhat from satellite offices). If they do pull in 50k peole as expected, a tech industry will form around it. Something like Denver, Kansas City, Nashville, New Orleans, or Louisville.

Pay all their workers above going rates, which is likely cheaper than most of the bigger cities, and many workers ready to start families would probably love the idea of more affordable housing that other quickly growing cities.
 
In what ways is the city decaying? I walk around downtown everyday, so I'm sure I'm bias, but the amount of construction is staggering. Even the transformation in the last two years in pretty crazy.

New skyscraper coming: http://www.freep.com/story/money/bu...t-architecture-hudsons-development/663439001/

Old skyscraper being restored: https://detroit.curbed.com/2017/8/25/16202926/book-tower-restoration-video

Plenty of other stuff: https://detroit.curbed.com/maps/map-detroit-construction-development


Ugh post like yours really peeve me. ”City's decaying" with no shred of evidence.


LittleCaesarsArena_Exterior_Thumb.0.jpg

Well the population has been on decline for several years, which is terrible for the local economy. Also, when I visited Detroit and Windsor, the latter felt like a paradise in comparison to Detroit. Just my experience though.
 

Nitsuj23

Member
Well the population has been on decline for several years, which is terrible for the local economy. Also, when I visited Detroit and Windsor, the latter felt like a paradise in comparison to Detroit. Just my experience though.

What year did you visit?

The population has been declining for decades. But then there's this http://www.detroitnews.com/story/ne...17/07/27/detroit-population-growth/104031902/

It's really changed quite a bit in the last year or two, and the change seems to be increasing in speed exponentially.

How bad is the populaton for the local economy? Not sure why so many new businesses are opening with the terrible conditions. Food alone - https://detroit.eater.com/coming-attractions
We just got a Nike, Under Armor, two barcades in the last three months (up from zero). Point being, things aren't closing. New things are opening every week. At least give me examples of the local economy crumbling.

Aside from downtown's recent spur in new businesses, Metro Detroit ”is one of the nation's largest metropolitan economies, with seventeen Fortune 500 companies." https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metro_Detroit
 

Magwik

Banned
The suggested area is not in Southfield. It’s downtown. Dan Gilbert is even offering to temporairly move his employees out of his buildings until Amazon properly moves into whichever building they choose (if it were to happen). If I recall correctly, Southfield was going to submit their own bid. I could be wrong.

And actually no to your traffic nightmare. Straight from Detroit proposal site, “Best of all, of the 15 largest metro areas, Detroit drivers spend the least amount of time in traffic congestion during peak periods.“

Like I said, the mass transit is the biggest detriment and why I could see Detroit being eliminated.

Still not understanding the criteria on airports. And do they mention required proximity to university for it to be considered as part of the city’s attractiveness? I guess I’ve never considered U of M or MSU that far from Detroit. Surely they’d attract grads from both schools if they were in Detroit.

Not that Wiki is the be all end all, but https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metro_Detroit#Education
One of the proposed buildings is the old Northland Mall in Southfield

As for transit, I just have a hard time believing our freeways will be able to stand up to such a massive influx of traffic. The Amazon distribution center in Livonia which is down the road from my work, will probably soon begin to impact traffic on 96. I just am skeptical our transit will hold up, not trying to undermine it at all.

In regards to schools and as someone who goes to UM Dearborn, in the immediate Detroit area only Wayne State/Dearborn have name recognition and offer programs that would be beneficial to Amazon.
Primarily because the types of employees they're going to want to attract aren't going to want to move to Detroit. City's decaying. You want to move somewhere that's growing.

Ignoring the "too big" cities on the AEG list, Atlanta/Philly/DC are next up and are all up and coming cities.
Now this is just wrong. The city has been rebuilding successfully for the past 5 years.
 
In what ways is the city decaying? I walk around downtown everyday, so I’m sure I’m bias, but the amount of construction is staggering. Even the transformation in the last two years in pretty crazy.

New skyscraper coming: http://www.freep.com/story/money/bu...t-architecture-hudsons-development/663439001/

Old skyscraper being restored: https://detroit.curbed.com/2017/8/25/16202926/book-tower-restoration-video

Plenty of other stuff: https://detroit.curbed.com/maps/map-detroit-construction-development


Ugh post like yours really peeve me. “City’s decaying” with no shred of evidence.


Our decaying new arena:

Decline in major industries along with dealing population. Both two huge factors.

Yes, you are biased.
 

Nitsuj23

Member
One of the proposed buildings is the old Northland Mall in Southfield


As for transit, I just have a hard time believing our freeways will be able to stand up to such a massive influx of traffic. The Amazon distribution center in Livonia which is down the road from my work, will probably soon begin to impact traffic on 96. I just am skeptical our transit will hold up, not trying to undermine it at all.

In regards to schools and as someone who goes to UM Dearborn, in the immediate Detroit area only Wayne State/Dearborn have name recognition and offer programs that would be beneficial to Amazon.

Now this is just wrong. The city has been rebuilding successfully for the past 5 years.

I'm quite sure Southfield's bid is separate from Detroit's according to this http://www.detroitnews.com/story/ne...pitch-new-home-amazon-headquarters/105865658/ and https://www.reddit.com/r/Detroit/comments/71l8qn/southfield_to_submit_bid_for_amazon_to_fill/

That's why I asked about required proximity for Universities. Does Amazon want students to be able to make it part of their daily commute? Or would being in the Metro area satisfy their needs?
 
Only Wayne State and UM Dearborn are in the area. Henry Ford and Schoolcraft just sort of exist, and the rest are in other counties.
Detroit basically has no transit infrastructure either. No trains, the busses suck, and if they go with the suggested area in Southfield, Telegraph/75/96 will be a fucking nightmare.

Oh my god, Southfield would be a nightmare. I'm guessing they suggested in the Mixing Bowl area? 696/Telegraph/The Lodge would be a disaster come rush hour.

EDIT: Yeah, Northland Mall site isn't far from there. Plenty of space but it's in a residential area.
 
Eh? Toronto and Ontario in general has fantastic universities.
Not sure the methodology but they could be using different standards to compare.... E.g. this 2011 source says TO and Van only 30% and 28% of the pop. has undergraduate education or higher, which would rank both quite low for education compared to the 40-50% that many of those US cities apparently have. But if you look at methodology, the CAN study looks at >15 year olds but the US one looks at >25 year olds. I'm guessing MSNBC, for a 'we have nothing new to run today so please write this article before tmr' report, they may have quickly just grabbed some CDN data and included it with US data without accounting for possible methodology differences.

Either that or they're just looking at total sums, not per capita.I would imagine TO and Van are quite educated as a percentage of their cities (cities, in particular; not their metro areas, either), but Van in particularly is probably small in terms of actual totals.
 

Nitsuj23

Member
Decline in major industries along with dealing population. Both two huge factors.

Yes, you are biased.

Decline in major industries? Source?
http://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory/google-moving-suburbs-reviving-downtown-detroit-50395016
http://www.freep.com/story/money/bu...ilbert-duggan-technology-innovation/97439840/
http://www.fox2detroit.com/news/local-news/amazon-opening-corporate-office-in-detroit
http://www.crainsdetroit.com/articl...to-move-150-employees-downtown-as-part-of-85m

That's just downtown. Then there's this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_metropolitan_Detroit . Really struggling to spot the decline in major industries. You seemed so sure, though, so mind linking me some articles?


And like I said, yes population has been declining for decades. So it's interesting that population is forecasted to grow: http://www.detroitnews.com/story/ne...17/07/27/detroit-population-growth/104031902/

Something has to have caused the projected growth - could it be the revitalization of downtown?

I'm not arguing Detroit should be the frontrunner, I'm arguing we shouldn't be second from the bottom on CNBC's chart - which is what my initial question was about.

I think we probably shouldn't get it due to our abysmal mass transit alone.

But every other factor you or others have stated is just not very accurate (decline in population is accurate, but you're wrong about it affecting industry and you're not looking at the trend - we still have more people than plenty of cities on the list and growth is projected because of the already increasingly buzzing downtown developments). I can't wrap my head around the low airport ranking alone. We have one highest regarded airports in the nation. Apparently U of M is just out of reach to be considered a factor although it's part of our metro area? The chart doesn't make sense to me.
 

KiN0

Member
Maybe I'm just delusional, but I want Amazon to pick some city in a conservative state just in the hopes that more liberal minded people will move their and mix up the demographics.
 

WedgeX

Banned
Can someone explain to me why Detroit is so low? It seems like the biggest detriment to Detroit is the lack of mass transit.

How in the world was their airport score calculated? Plenty of rankings place Detroit’s airport amongst the top in the nation. Here’s one for example: http://www.jdpower.com/press-releases/jd-power-2017-north-america-airport-satisfaction-study

Also, how is “universities” score calculated? There are plenty of universities. U of M is highly regarded, MSU is no slouch. Then there are schools like Wayne State, Western Michigan, and Central Michigan. Those don’t have the same prestige as a U of M or MSU, obviously, but no lack of higher education. Does Denver, for example, really have better universites than Detroit? If so, what ones?

Detroit public schools are disastourous and in need of help, but Amazon breathing life into the area seems like something that may help there. School districts in metro Detroit are the opposite of Detroit proper. They’re well regarded and would probably be where most Amazon employees live anyway.

Then there’s the ability for employees who can’t get a visa to live in Canada. Plenty of people live in Windsor and work in Detroit.

There’s ample amount of space. I’m sure I’m forgetting things.

And I’m not even suggesting Detroit should be a frontrunner. I just really can’t understand this CNBC graph. The airport rank seems to go against every other list I’ve ever seen and being unranked in universities with U of M and MSU so near is mind boggling.

Oh, and thoughts on this? http://www.detroitmovestheworld.com/

Had 10,000 more people voted in favor of funding and building the commuter rail and rapid-bus transit through the RTA last fall, Detroit might have a shot.

But with voters in metro Detroit, specifically Macomb, once again shunning transit, I think there is no chance. The move towards people who want to live in cities like Amazon is hoping to attract is not car transit, but walking and being shuttled by someone else. A fleet of Uber won’t do.
 

KingV

Member
I hope not. I would prefer if they didn't come to Illinois. Unless they decided to put it on the Southside and redevelop some of those areas I don't think it would be worth the tax incentives they would have to give them.

Just give them the parking meters.
 

Soapbox Killer

Grand Nagus
There is just so much unused prime real estate in Philadelphia that's readily available and accessible that it does make sense. It helps that its not big in square area but very dense in populous.

Maybe where Tastykake was in north Philly?
 

RBH

Member
Keep on hearing about Atlanta being in the mix...........would be very interesting to see that play out. Hope that would be an incentive for the state to fucking give MARTA some money in order to expand the public transit system.
 

The Llama

Member
There is just so much unused prime real estate in Philadelphia that's readily available and accessible that it does make sense. It helps that its not big in square area but very dense in populous.

Maybe where Tastykake was in north Philly?

lmao if you think Amazon would move to Nicetown
 

DiscoJer

Member
Maybe I'm just delusional, but I want Amazon to pick some city in a conservative state just in the hopes that more liberal minded people will move their and mix up the demographics.

Honestly, I'd like them to pick a distressed area/ If you want to prove you are a progressive company, go to a place where the people aren't rich and is already gentrified.
 

Nitsuj23

Member
Had 10,000 more people voted in favor of funding and building the commuter rail and rapid-bus transit through the RTA last fall, Detroit might have a shot.

But with voters in metro Detroit, specifically Macomb, once again shunning transit, I think there is no chance. The move towards people who want to live in cities like Amazon is hoping to attract is not car transit, but walking and being shuttled by someone else. A fleet of Uber won't do.

Yup, I agree. I edited a post above to add:

me said:
I'm not arguing Detroit should be the frontrunner, I'm arguing we shouldn't be second from the bottom on CNBC's chart - which is what my initial question was about.

I think we probably shouldn't get it due to our abysmal mass transit alone.

As an avid walker it does suck. Things have been getting better, but still suck compared to other big cities.

Some interesting things:
http://www.mlive.com/news/detroit/index.ssf/2016/06/detroit_jumps_into_top_3_for_i.html

The "Spirit Plaza" pedestrian area that was blocked off for a three month experiment on Woodward is being made permanent because of how successful it was. Now they're planning more ways to develop it:
http://www.detroitnews.com/story/ne...etroit-plaza-stay-open-permanently/741412001/

I know it's dumb to laud, but the bike share thing has been a major success:
http://www.crainsdetroit.com/articl...-bike-ridership-goal-more-than-6-months-early
I have to believe that'll expand (woo hoo bikes... I know, give me some damn mass transit that's not the dumb QLine or People Mover)

I'm excited for this:
http://www.detroitnews.com/story/ne...bike-path-around-detroit-progresses/30672891/

Not even gonna post anything about the QLine because I kind of hate it. It looks cool, but that's about it. I have the app on my phone and at least once a day I get the "delayed, car on tracks" message. When all it takes is one idiot to disrupt the entire system, it's bound to suck.

Honestly, I'd like them to pick a distressed area/ If you want to prove you are a progressive company, go to a place where the people aren't rich and is already gentrified.

Hmmm.. I'll bring up Detroit here again :)

We're a red state now :'(

Detroit public schools are bad. Plenty of people outside downtown are not rich.

And we're a diverse area. Who's at the top of this list? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._cities_with_large_African-American_populations :D

Could help with their diversity issue.

Imma leave this here: https://youtu.be/DO4J_PC1b5M
 

Slo

Member
Keep on hearing about Atlanta being in the mix...........would be very interesting to see that play out. Hope that would be an incentive for the state to fucking give MARTA some money in order to expand the public transit system.

GT is a great Engineering school, city has got a great airport, seems like a logical choice.
 
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