BOOM: Amazon Announces Intent to Build Second HQ in a City Outside of Seattle...
September 08, 2017
Damn!
Amazon announced on Thursday that it is planning to open another headquarters called Amazon HQ2 in US city TBD.
Amazon HQ2 will cost $5 billion and eventually house up to 50,000 Amazon staff, Amazon said in a press release.
Amazon said it wants HQ2 to be in a metropolitan area with a "stable and business friendly environment" and more than 1 million people. The company also wants HQ2 to be within 45 minutes of an international airport and in a location where there is potential to attract strong technical talent.
Amazon is inviting city representatives and those working for regional economic development organizations to submit a proposal if they want to host Amazon's second headquarters.
To me, the obvious choice is the ATL. But I'm biased because that's my second home.
I'll leave you with this - if you have any doubt of the economic impact of the Amazon HQ2, take a look at the numbers in the chart below related to their presence in Seattle. This is a much/much/much bigger deal from an economic standpoint that a city landing a sports team. It's probably the biggest economic development event that will happen in America in the next century. (email subscribers click through if you don't see the chart below)
Let's go ATL. Click on the chart below to blow it up and be amazed...
Would think Austin would be in the mix. With the acquisition of Whole Foods, they already have a foothold in the city. It's more of an "IT town" than Atlanta and you can't get much more business or tax friendly than Texas. It's also have a country closer to the mother ship than Atlanta.
On the down side: pretty limited number of places you can get from Austin without taking a connecting flight (thought 50,000 more professional jobs overnight might change that), the public transit system is laughable, real estate is becoming unreasonably priced, and recruiting with Austin's low unemployment rate is not fun. Also, you're maybe not expanding your footprint as meaningfully as you would be in Atlanta.
Pretty fascinating to watch this unfold.
Posted by: Scott | September 08, 2017 at 02:33 PM
Nashville, Dallas, or ATL is my guess. Austin could happen. In addition to the Whole Foods tie in, they could keep their eye on Apple.
Anything north of Nashville? I doubt it. I'm guessing NC and Arizona are out because of the bad press they've gotten in the last
few years.
Posted by: MattL | September 08, 2017 at 04:03 PM