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Amazon in advanced talks about putting HQ2 in Northern Virginia, those close to process say
Amazon.com has held advanced discussions about the possibility of opening its highly sought-after second headquarters in Crystal City, including how quickly it would move employees there, which buildings it would occupy and how an announcement about the move would be made to the public, according to people close to the process.
The discussions were more detailed than those the company has had regarding other locations in Northern Virginia and some other cities nationally, adding to speculation that the site in Arlington County is a front-runner to land the online retail giant's second North American headquarters and its 50,000 jobs.
The company is so close to making its choice that Crystal City's top real estate developer, JBG Smith, has pulled some of its buildings off the leasing market and officials in the area have discussed how to make an announcement to the public this month, following the midterm elections, according to public and private-sector officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity because Amazon has asked that the selection process remain confidential. The company may be having similar discussions with other finalists.
[...] [After] publication of this story, Mike Grella, director of economic development for Amazon, posted on Twitter: "Memo to the genius leaking info about Crystal City, VA as #HQ2 selection. You're not doing Crystal City, VA any favors. And stop treating the NDA you signed like a used napkin," he said in reference to the nondisclosure agreements that Amazon required finalists to sign.
The Amazon Washington Post confirms it.
Crystal City, Arlington, Virginia.
Previously: Amazon to Invest $5 Billion in Second HQ Outside of Seattle
Cities Desperate to Become the Location of Amazon's "Second Headquarters"
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 05 2018, @04:21AM (2 children)
With any luck, Amazon will start to pull out of Seattle in big numbers. It's not as if they don't already have an adversarial relationship with the city government. Remember the "Amazon Tax" and the city council backing down when they realised just how epically buttfucked they'd be if Amazon started to pull back? This is a sharp reminder to Seattle that if they don't start playing nicer, there are other places in the world - hell, in the country.
If Amazon pulls ten thousand white collar workers out of Seattle, that will really hurt. Remember that Washington has no income tax, but works on property and sales taxes (for the most part). If the housing market softens because of people moving out, and the turnover drops by ten thousand households, Seattle's city government will find themselves even worse off, financially, than their current greedy grasping for every big ticket project has already left them.
They might even have a sudden attack of common sense.
Nah, who'm I kidding? Boeing's had one foot out the door for ages, and the state's still whistling past the graveyard.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Monday November 05 2018, @04:39AM (1 child)
Kind of like the TV + film industries moving production into Georgia. Cities tripped over themselves to become the site of Amazon HQ2, but before that, they were doing the same thing for Google Fiber.
It's like a small scale version of globalization. Bite the hand that feeds you, and that hand will pick up and leave. And there's no shortage of beggars looking for a helping hand.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 05 2018, @05:18AM
Oh, it gets better than that. Much better. The city of Seattle is doing all it can to raise taxes, even some heavily regressive taxes, and even in very deceptive ways. You heard about the car tab fee? They were prorating that, not by the blue book value of the car, nor the actual sale price, but by the MSRP. Who the hell pays MSRP? Granted, that wasn't just Seattle, but the greater Seattle/Puget Sound region. However, Seattle was the major driver because it all goes into Seattle's anti-car/pro-public transport agenda. Even if you think they're dead right to do so, it's a shitty way of doing things. It disproportionately hit people who had bought old, second-hand cars because they were goddamn broke. I guess their economists took a break that week or something.
Then on top of that, Seattle is the graveyard of terrible transit. Monorail? Huge, ugly, damn near useless. Streetcars? Mostly go nowhere anybody cares about. Light rail gets a little traction, and so do commuter trains, but that's about it. Buses are busy during commutes and practically abandoned at other times, while the service is abysmal and slow. Nobody wants to stand at a bus stop for fifteen minutes in western Washington's winter. Even if it isn't iced over (which makes the steep hills basically impassable), the near-freezing drizzle makes it no feast for the senses.
But enough about their shitty infrastructure plans (is the tunnel open yet ... didn't think so), how about their social attitude for, say, employment? OK, great, the extra sick time thing is awesome. Kind of. It raises the costs of employment, but employers all look like the Monopoly millionaire dude, right? Then there was that recent set of studies that concluded that locally-owned businesses that employ people near minimum wage were sweating or leaving the area, but externally-owned ones large enough to expand into Seattle were hiring, because they have the slack to step into a void. I thought left wingers like Kshama were supposed to hate big business, not favour it? Oh, well. Then of course they discover to their shock and horror that homeless people are actively seeking out Seattle as an attractive destination because of the ways that they're supported. Result: the homeless population is a permanent problem.
But we're all about effective public policy, right guys?