Thank God Austin didn’t get picked.
What I’d like to know, Is Amazon get to double dip getting full incentives from both cities? Again, it’s not two HQ2. It’s 0 HQ2 if split into two halves. You can’t call either one HQ if it’s only half as big as the real HQ in Seattle. Charade.
The whole thing seems like a shady exercise to get publicity and tax incentives. I’m betting he knew from the get-go where he was going.
I’m also glad Austin remains further unscathed.
You should have heard my Mr. making jokes about this. If there is one headquarters 1, then what do you call the other two? Buttquarters? Yeah, he is flying to D.C. in a middle seat at the end of the plane. He is not amused.
LIC is going to be a nightmare.
Nashville is going to get an operations center.
Arlington VA is a great place to live and has been sought after for a long time. It’s going to get even more expensive! Good luck all you Beltway and Metro commuters.
The traffic around DC/NOVA is bad enough already. I was hoping pretty much anywhere else would get it (sigh).
I’ve already almost totally quit buying from Amazon, but not due to this. I prefer to support the “smaller” folks out there, esp if they’re more local, even at a higher cost. I’ve seen too many have to go out of business due to corporate giants. I’m glad we can afford to make this decision.
I’ll also be glad when we no longer have to travel around DC. We have to now to visit my inlaws.
Developers already have been scooping up RE in CC in the hopes of renting it out to Amazombies.
Know what? No big hubbub here about it. Life goes on. I’m not getting a job opp out of it. Nor my kids. Their rent is still due on the first, so to say.
No miracles. The rich get richer.
Nashville and Tennessee offered a combined $100M of incentives just for what is coming here!
SMH. What else could 100m do?
Well, I guess it means a lot of jobs for the area, so that’s good- although we are a booming place anyway.
Restricted jobs. Software folks and their ancillary staff. Some marketing and legal, etc. The guys who sell expensive bikes, gym memberships, lunch places, landscapers. The builders, the guys who install traffic lights, etc. The folks who sell them boots, supplies, lunch. Maybe the local Home Depot and Ikea. But how many of our own friends and family? No trickle down there.
I’m not in CC or LI. But my area was willing to offer big incentives and meanwhile, schools are in disrepair, rents are high, and on and on.
And this: no priority for hiring local. When big business comes in, so do out of state job applicants.
Sorry, has been my soapbox throughout.
Amazon has already renamed Crystal City (never a very apropos name for acres of cement and '70s office buildings) National Landing at least makes a little more sense being near (Reagan) National Airport. But they get to rename the whole area? I guess they pretty much get anything they want.
I live a couple miles from the DC Maryland suburb site in the running and am just as happy we won’t be overrun with even more traffic.
@Creekland I am so with you. I am trying to limit my amazon purchases and shop at stores. Lately I have been shopping at JC penney. since I really want to see them succeed.
Amazon has small sellers, too. Sometimes, a product comes from a larger enterprise, sometimes brick and mortar. But a lot of the sellers are smaller operations or a side biz, folks just trying to make some money.
The move to CC and LIC is about corporate. Big, multi-national corporate.
NY offered $1 billion, CC $0.5 billion. Taxpayers don’t get to know about it until it’s decided.
It’s OK with me to put half of it in “National Landing.” But I live in Montgomery County, so it’s NOMML (Not On My Metro Line).
Amazon indeed has small sellers and when we can’t find something locally I look for one of them. That said, when I can find things locally that’s my preference so I go with it.
We aren’t big consumers in my family so we try to spend our $$ on things and with people we truly want to support from the place we buy it to where it was manufactured.
If the news forecasts are correct, we may be some of the only humans in the country spending less on actual gifts this Christmas. We’re not big gift givers in anyone’s range of data and our lads are grown, so will end up with some form of money - actual $$ and/or gift cards. (Even when they were small they only got one gift each, plus stockings & one gift from Santa that was sometimes something they shared - they grew up just fine anyway.)
H and I don’t give each other anything, though we will often get something needed for our house (like when we needed a new toilet, dishwasher or mattress) or plot our next trip. Our siblings (one each) get gift cards to restaurants and/or movies. That leaves our parents and with all three of them nearing the very end of life, we’re rather stymied when it comes to Christmas gifts at this point.