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Amazon Second HQ

AlvinofDiaspar said:
I wonder if Bezos might also want to "hedge his bets" and put it outside the US
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In some ways, for me the trump card (shame that we almost can't use that phrase anymore) may be how Bezos weighs this against his own personal/political desires -- if it's the former, maybe Toronto winds up getting it, and DC if the latter.

Bezos himself bought an epic townhouse in DC when he bought the Post.
 
DC just never struck me as the type of place you'd set up these kinds of operations. Toronto on the other hand seems made for what Amazon wants to achieve.

My prediction is Atlanta gets it.
 
Filip said:
DC just never struck me as the type of place you'd set up these kinds of operations. Toronto on the other hand seems made for what Amazon wants to achieve.

My prediction is Atlanta gets it.
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Atlanta performs questionably on several of the criteria outlined by Amazon:

Community/quality of life. The new headquarters should be in a place where people want to live. Amazon is interested in daily living and recreational opportunities for people in each proposed metro area. It is also requesting information about housing prices and availability, general cost of living, and crime statistics.
​
Atlanta isn't known for having great quality of life, and it has one of the highest violent crime rates in the United States. Housing prices would be a strength, however.

Cultural community fit. Like any tech company, Amazon cares about “culture fit.” It defines this as a diverse population, strong higher-education system, and local government that is “eager and willing to work with the company.” Amazon is asking cities to “demonstrate characteristics of this” in their responses. “We encourage testimonials from other large companies,” it adds.
​
Atlanta would perform poorly here as well, assuming the type of diversity Amazon seeks is racial diversity. Atlanta's sprawling urban geography might be a problem. Georgia's conservative politics would also be a major drawback. Atlanta's higher education system does have Georgia Tech, but I don't believe that school performs as well as U of Toronto or U of Waterloo.

Amazon is first and foremost a master of logistics, so it should come as no surprise that the company cares a lot about transportation. Amazon wants on-site access to mass transit—train, subway, or bus—and to be no more than one or two miles from major highways and connecting roads. It wants to be within 45 minutes of an international airport with daily direct flights to Seattle, New York, the San Francisco Bay area, and Washington DC. The company is also asking applicants to identify “all transit options, including bike lanes and pedestrian access” for the proposed site and to rank traffic congestion during peak commuting hours.​

Like Toronto, Atlanta suffers from terrible roads congestion. However, Atlanta's mass transit system is very poor compared to Toronto's. Atlanta's strength in this category will come from their Hartsfield Jackson International Airport, and the abundance of connection it offers.
 
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muller877 said:
Amazon is looking at building a second NA headquarters (HQ2). They like hip areas and towers (not the sprawling campuses in the 'burbs). If Toronto wants to be serious to acquire 50,000 jobs the Unilever sight may be ideal
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Amazon's initial requirement is 500k square feet to be available by 2019. I don't know where in Toronto can have that available so quick, while also having room to expand by up to an additional 8,000,000 square feet.
 
Here is CNBC's attempt to objectively weigh qualifying cities against each other: https://www.cnbc.com/2017/09/07/her...ns-wish-list-for-its-second-headquarters.html

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It sounds like Amazon wants land and not a pipeline development offered by the pension funds (or First Gulf). The RFP makes it sound like they'll develop, manage and operate the complex.[/QUOTE]

Amazon leases about 50% of the space they use in Seattle right now. They will either lease or own.

However, they want a downtown campus that is not to close to the business district. They don't want the business vibe nor the suburban campus vibe. I don't think the Oxford site will cut it
 
If you look at the full CNBC article linked above and look at the second chart there you can see that their ranking is a bit misleading as they have no data on several of the categories for many cities. In Toronto's case they only rank us on 3 of their 5 criteria.

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DSC said:
If you look at the full CNBC article linked above and look at the second chart there you can see that their ranking is a bit misleading as they have no data on several of the categories for many cities. In Toronto's case they only rank us on 3 of their 5 criteria.

View attachment 120357 View attachment 120358
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Nor do they take into account much of the other criteria Amazon listed, such as business friendliness, tax incentives, availability of land to develop on, crime & culture, etc..
 
pman said:
Given our 53.5% marginal income tax rate that kicks in at CAD220k, and Amazon's very highly paid tech and managerial workforce, Toronto would appear to be a weak contender.
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but the lower Canadian dollar
 
When they mention 2 major Universities, I count 3: UofT, York, Waterloo. Toronto is a world leader in AI, which Bezos is interested in. Whatever Toronto and Govts were thinking of wasting on an Olympic folly should be rolled into this venture. Lastly, while not connected I wonder how the Google proposal to develop a site downtown plays into this?

The table showing salaries of programmers and the 0.80 Cdn$ is compelling. Boston worries me as a competitor, but it's expensive. In so far as requiring Americans to move here, hey it's not a bad place to live, but I think they'd be hiring organically.

Billy Bishop is also expanding nicely.

We got to get this DAMMITT!
 
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TheTigerMaster said:
Unilever is 30 mins from Pearson Airport by car. And I suppose a DRL > UPX > Person trip would take less than 45 mins as well. No modification to UPX necessary.
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Wouldn't it make more sense to go RER > UPX to Pearson? After all, there will be a major station at the Unilever site and RER will be a one stop ride to Union. The DRL will be more useful to people going the the parts of downtown north of Union Station.

As the GO network electrifies I could see UPX being rolled into the general GO network. It really should have been designed that way from the start, including consistent platform heights.
 
I thought of another site...Ontario Place and the CNE.

Hear me out...

If we take the entire Ontario Place and the parking lots at the CNE it is perfect for a mid-rise European style walkable mixed use community. You have offices in the upper floors and retail and restaurants all along a bunch of boardwalks near the water. This basically takes up all of Ontario Place and is phase 1.

Behind these mid-rise offices you can have taller commerical and residential that is on both sides of lakeshore. But we infill so that the first floor is above lakeshore. Basically lakeshore becomes a sunken highway that is unseen by this new area.

Amazon would keep some of the architecture of Ontario Place alive. Those pods become central hubs with cafes and meeting rooms. Guest lectures at the cinesphere.

On the weekends with the mixed use community the boardwalk would be busy and the pods are used by the entire community (the cafe potion is public).

The CNE would be no more. Other than the agricultural component it's just become a glorified midway anyways. Why not shift this all to downsview? The CNE, the agricultural buildings and the amplitheature.

As Amazon grows we could consider the future of the convention centre in the middle of nowhere. Double the size of the MTCC with Oxford and double the size of the ones at the airport.

Other than a few quirky historical buildings (which gives it character) it gives Amazon a blank slate to work with.

Now the other criteria...

We can give them enwave centre and the pods for a full year as a temporary office space until buildings are ready.

Transit...we can extend the streetcar from the Ex loop south and into the CNE grounds temporarily. Longer term we extend the Queen's quay tracks along Queen's quay and follow Martin Goodman trail behind the tip top building. Then it can follow lakeshore (south of the road) and loop into Ontario Place before going north to the ex loop (and the RER stop). Makes Harbourfront and Bathurst lines into 1 very long route.

It's also close to king west and liberty village so lots of residential and socializing options.
 
muller877 said:
I thought of another site...Ontario Place and the CNE.

Hear me out...

If we take the entire Ontario Place and the parking lots at the CNE it is perfect for a mid-rise European style walkable mixed use community. You have offices in the upper floors and retail and restaurants all along a bunch of boardwalks near the water. This basically takes up all of Ontario Place and is phase 1.

Behind these mid-rise offices you can have taller commerical and residential that is on both sides of lakeshore. But we infill so that the first floor is above lakeshore. Basically lakeshore becomes a sunken highway that is unseen by this new area.

Amazon would keep some of the architecture of Ontario Place alive. Those pods become central hubs with cafes and meeting rooms. Guest lectures at the cinesphere.

On the weekends with the mixed use community the boardwalk would be busy and the pods are used by the entire community (the cafe potion is public).

The CNE would be no more. Other than the agricultural component it's just become a glorified midway anyways. Why not shift this all to downsview? The CNE, the agricultural buildings and the amplitheature.

As Amazon grows we could consider the future of the convention centre in the middle of nowhere. Double the size of the MTCC with Oxford and double the size of the ones at the airport.

Other than a few quirky historical buildings (which gives it character) it gives Amazon a blank slate to work with.

Now the other criteria...

We can give them enwave centre and the pods for a full year as a temporary office space until buildings are ready.

Transit...we can extend the streetcar from the Ex loop south and into the CNE grounds temporarily. Longer term we extend the Queen's quay tracks along Queen's quay and follow Martin Goodman trail behind the tip top building. Then it can follow lakeshore (south of the road) and loop into Ontario Place before going north to the ex loop (and the RER stop). Makes Harbourfront and Bathurst lines into 1 very long route.

It's also close to king west and liberty village so lots of residential and socializing options.
Click to expand...
Amazon's Toronto HQ could also be made as a mini-Venice, with many canals, replacing much of Ontario Place.
 
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