Jump to content

NSIAP: Amazon HQ2, more jobs and traffic jams

Grippe

By Grippe
in Business and Markets

 Share

Recommended Posts

Aqua Buddha

Aqua Buddha 14581

Posted
Posted (edited)
30 minutes ago, Washpark said:

Heard from a source that DC Maryland area officials are confident that they have won the bid. 

They'll have trouble recruiting locally there.  They might get move ins but the local workforce won't leave the warm bosom of the federal government for the grind house that is Amazon.

Also, one problem Amazon has in Seattle is getting people to move there due to cost of living issues.  Not sure the DC area is much better.  The mass transit there is also dog shit.

Edited by Aqua Buddha
Link to comment
Share on other sites
skittlebrau

skittlebrau 474

Posted
Posted
43 minutes ago, Larry T. Spider said:

Surly is fully of idoit know it alls that end up being wrong. Sometimes the most logical choice is what’s going to happen. Don’t overthink it. Bandera.

Also Team Bandera. Don’t know how so many are missing the obvious choice.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
bolverk

bolverk 29650

Posted
Posted

Smart money has always been on the DC area, and that was evident when Amazon gave them essentially three shots at getting it by treating NoVA, DC, and MD separately. If they do choose that region, Bezos will be setting himself up with a nice little empire in the nation's capital between his new digs and ownership of the Washington Post. Imagine the lobbying might he'll have to protect his retail model and all the sensitive technology doodads that'll drive home delivery as well as monitoring in-store customer behavior.

I still think Austin has a shot, but our local leadership certainly hasn't done us any favors. Certainly, Adler doesn't have the vision, charisma, and energy Wynn and Watson had. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
kopp0e

kopp0e 1135

Posted
Posted (edited)
7 hours ago, triplelonghorn said:

I want it to be Austin, and I want there to be demand because of it to build a fast train from SA to Austin.

Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk
 

Wasn't it talk of building a fast train route that would run in a south to north route, from either Austin to Dallas/ Oklahoma City/ Kansas City & Chicago, or it might have been an east to west route of Houston/ San Antonio to Phoenix/ Los Angeles..?  

Either way, the economy of the state of Texas is what is bringing in more diverse populations of peoples in the major metro areas, I just hope that the Lone State State keeps what make it unique, as there's simply no other place quite like Texas..!

Edited by kopp0e
Link to comment
Share on other sites
staboner

staboner 4969

Posted
Posted (edited)
9 hours ago, bolverk said:

Smart money has always been on the DC area, and that was evident when Amazon gave them essentially three shots at getting it by treating NoVA, DC, and MD separately. If they do choose that region, Bezos will be setting himself up with a nice little empire in the nation's capital between his new digs and ownership of the Washington Post. Imagine the lobbying might he'll have to protect his retail model and all the sensitive technology doodads that'll drive home delivery as well as monitoring in-store customer behavior.

I still think Austin has a shot, but our local leadership certainly hasn't done us any favors. Certainly, Adler doesn't have the vision, charisma, and energy Wynn and Watson had. 

yeah its this ^. i can see lots of reasons for DC area. basically, all the new business models they haven't created yet need some good old fashioned politician greasing 

austin will be in the last 3, some ceremony, and whathaveyou.

Edited by staboner
Link to comment
Share on other sites
smokebomb

smokebomb 357

Posted
Posted

I still don't think Austin will get HQ2 but the Robinson ranch is the most likely candidate if it did:

https://www.bizjournals.com/austin/news/2018/04/06/robinson-ranch-owners-court-developers-for-7-000.html 

Quote

Robinson Ranch owners court developers for 7,000 acres near Apple's Austin campus 
Family inundated with interest for massive tract; Is there HQ2 potential?
     
By Marissa Luck  – Staff Writer, Austin Business Journal
Apr 6, 2018, 2:19pm CDT
Rumors have swirled around the Robinson Ranch for years, and now the owners of the roughly 7,000-acre site may be getting a step closer to determining its future.

The Robinson family is considering potential development opportunities for the vast stretch of land in Northwest Austin. The coveted site is north of Parmer Lane — pretty much across the street from the Apple Inc. campus — south of the Texas 45 toll road and west of MoPac Expressway. On top of that, it's just a few miles from Dell Technologies Inc.'s headquarters, Samsung Austin Semiconductor, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Abbott Laboratories, Emerson Process Management and many other major employers.

Over the last several weeks the family has been quietly accepting responses to a request for interest and qualifications from prospective developers.

Richard Suttle, an attorney with Armbrust & Brown PLLC who represents the Robinson family, said the family is evaluating its options based on the proposals it has received so far.

"It's no secret that the Robinsons sent out a request for information and for qualification," he said. "The property is obviously a very attractive opportunity nationwide and internationally."

He added that the family had "a lot of very interesting and credible responses" to the request for qualifications from people "highly capable of helping the family develop a strategy for the ranch."

He declined to say how many companies or teams responded to the request.

Much of the ranch is raw, undeveloped land except for a large limestone quarry run by Austin White Lime Co. Previously the quarry had been off-limits for redevelopment, but that doesn’t appear to be the case now.

Suttle said it’s yet-to-be-determined whether the quarry land will be included in any potential development. It’s still very early in the process and the family will need to take time to create a strategy, he said.

“It’s not a simple process because it’s a large piece of property and a long-term real estate play and the family wants to get it right, and that’s why they’re requesting help from the best and brightest,” he added.

Sources close to the Robinson family said the group hasn’t yet decided whether it will develop a large master-planned site or sell the property for someone else to develop.

It’s been 14 years since the city annexed and zoned about 6,300 acres of the ranch as a planned-unit development, according to city documents. That type of zoning essentially allows all uses — from single-family homes to skyscrapers. About 4,400 acres of the ranch are designated for mixed-use, high density and transit-oriented development, Suttle said. To put that in perspective, The Domain — considered by many to be Austin's second downtown and it's just a couple of miles east of Robinson Ranch — takes up about 300 acres.

Much of Robinson Ranch has no height restrictions and would allow for 100 percent impervious cover and floor-to-area ratios of 12:1, according to Suttle.

The ranch has been bandied about as a potential spot for Amazon’s second headquarters. It would offer a blank slate for the e-commerce giant to build a headquarters from the ground up, and with a MetroRail commuter line running through the property, it meets Amazon’s requirement that an HQ2 site have access to mass transit.

In a January interview with ABJ, Suttle said the family responded to inquiries from the Austin Chamber of Commerce in September 2017 regarding the potential to pitch the property as an HQ2 contender.

Suttle said at the time the family was open to Amazon locating there and would even consider giving the retail powerhouse a steep discount or a donation of land to make it happen.

But this week he declined to say whether Amazon executives visited the ranch when they recently visited Austin as part of a nationwide tour of potential HQ2 sites.

For now, the family appears to be moving forward with devising a strategy for the ranch regardless of Amazon.

“This is an ongoing process that the family is diligently going through,” Suttle said. 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
staboner

staboner 4969

Posted
Posted
7 minutes ago, The Dog said:

Buddy of mine is a Director at Amazon in Seattle and we caught up when he was in town for SXSW. He was convinced that it was going to be Austin. Not sure he's in a position to know but he was pretty confident in the statement. /csb

i'll give you my $9.95 if you can tell me it lands betwixt elgin/manor and east austin

false hopes aint too bad for a monday

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Hagbard Celine

Hagbard Celine 10848

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, The Dog said:

Buddy of mine is a Director at Amazon in Seattle and we caught up when he was in town for SXSW. He was convinced that it was going to be Austin. Not sure he's in a position to know but he was pretty confident in the statement. /csb

were you near a port-a-potty when he told you?

Despite the fact that California and Texas are the 2 largest states, this is an international/government decision.  Amazon needs an east coast mothership for european expansion, and to sit on top of the eastern seaboard and the population centers in the midwest and southeast while simultaneously sinking in the swamp is a no brainer.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
kopp0e

kopp0e 1135

Posted
Posted
3 hours ago, Grippe said:

I've got my fingers crossed it is Austin - I want my property value to skyrocket so I can sell out and GTFO (Allergies are getting worse and worse every year).

TBH, I am pretty much convinced it's the DC area.

As far as crime & cost of living, Austin would by far be the better choice of the two cities..

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Dolemite

Dolemite 143

Posted
Posted

Went to a meeting with a bunch of large companies finance guys. Small 3 day meeting with large companies represented. They thought DC made the most sense. None of them wanted it in their cities because of the effect it would have on the local labor force. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
bolverk

bolverk 29650

Posted
Posted

No doubt the "competition for talent" will heat up dramatically wherever it goes. 50k (even over a 10-year span) is a significant hiring curve no matter what metro area you're in. And, yes, once again, I'd bet on the greater DC region for the final selection.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Aqua Buddha

Aqua Buddha 14581

Posted
Posted

Said this earlier but I'm not sure DC makes sense.  The labor force is tilted towards the federal government and no way they leave the warm bosom of the federal government to work at the grind house that is Amazon.

Not sure they'd recruit well to DC, either.  One of their problems with recruiting to Seattle is cost of living and DC isn't much better.  

However, they do spread their influence over two states (Maryland and Virginia) in addition to DC.  That's not unimportant.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
wood

wood 11225

Posted
Posted (edited)
8 minutes ago, Texas Texas said:

Feel free to post the skeptical hippo pics, but a little birdie told me HQ2 will be coming to the 512, just not in Austin’s city limits.

South or north? ETA: Or east ...

Edited by wood
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Bottlecap

Bottlecap 1523

Posted
Posted

East Austin/Manor makes the most sense if we're actually entertaining this rumor. Its the closest, cheapest real estate in the austin area. And manor is quickly becoming integrated into Austin. Plus, there's the tech element with samsung and freescale nearby. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
GlenFromTheMailRoom

GlenFromTheMailRoom 1603

Posted
Posted
5 minutes ago, Bottlecap said:

East Austin/Manor makes the most sense if we're actually entertaining this rumor. Its the closest, cheapest real estate in the austin area. And manor is quickly becoming integrated into Austin. Plus, there's the tech element with samsung and freescale nearby. 

And by putting it there, we can truly fuck up traffic in all directions.  It's perfect.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites
staboner

staboner 4969

Posted
Posted
14 minutes ago, Bottlecap said:

East Austin/Manor makes the most sense if we're actually entertaining this rumor. Its the closest, cheapest real estate in the austin area. And manor is quickly becoming integrated into Austin. Plus, there's the tech element with samsung and freescale nearby. 

i told you homies this was my wish. next to my damn house in East Austin. 

tack $100k onto my house value

????

profit

and so forth.

skeptical hippo my black ass

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Neonmoon

Neonmoon 38129

Posted
Posted

So which site is more likely...

Broadmoore - IBM campus in Domain

Catalyst  - downtown 

Statesman Building  + Catalyst Campus -  downtown 

3M Campus - west hills 

Robinson Ranch - tech triangle 

Eightfold - former Motorola campus in East Austin 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Fico

Fico 1778

Posted
Posted (edited)

Eightfold can have up to 800K SF ready for occupancy in a period of 12 months, and ~350K in about 8 months.

The 3M site could work as well in terms of available square footage today, but they would need major zoning variances to allow for the desired SF Amazon needs over the course of their ramp up.

The developer for Catalyst hasn't even closed on the ballpark apartments/land yet.  They are several years away from delivering anything.

Statesman, is several years from develering anything also.  If they had site plan/building permits tomorrow, it would take 24-28 months to build the type of projects that will be going there.

Robinson Ranch, same as above - construction/zoning timeline push this out.

Broadmore, same as above.

 

The projects that have large blocks of space readily available will struggle meeting the total SF requirements, and the projects that can hit the total SF requirements depend on a lot of "ifs" and have significantly longer timelines. 

Edited by Fico
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Pasken

Pasken 1309

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, Fico said:

Eightfold can have up to 800K SF ready for occupancy in a period of 12 months, and ~350K in about 8 months.

The 3M site could work as well in terms of available square footage today, but they would need major zoning variances to allow for the desired SF Amazon needs over the course of their ramp up.

The developer for Catalyst hasn't even closed on the ballpark apartments/land yet.  They are several years away from delivering anything.

Statesman, is several years from develering anything also.  If they had site plan/building permits tomorrow, it would take 24-28 months to build the type of projects that will be going there.

Robinson Ranch, same as above - construction/zoning timeline push this out.

Broadmore, same as above.

 

The projects that have large blocks of space readily available will struggle meeting the total SF requirements, and the projects that can hit the total SF requirements depend on a lot of "ifs" and have significantly longer timelines. 

Anything that relies on a rezone is a huge question mark and suseceptible to rejection and extreme delay. Eightfold has been in rezone review for almost 6 months and the fire Dept has major issues with plans to put dense housing so close to combustible materials in adjacent buildings. Catalyst is already facing major backlash from people in the area. It would be tough to come to a town with so much hostility from local government and need zoning changes. They are going to go somewhere that actually wants them and sees the value and stability that all those jobs bring to the area. 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites
wood

wood 11225

Posted
Posted
10 minutes ago, Pasken said:

Anything that relies on a rezone is a huge question mark and suseceptible to rejection and extreme delay. Eightfold has been in rezone review for almost 6 months and the fire Dept has major issues with plans to put dense housing so close to combustible materials in adjacent buildings. Catalyst is already facing major backlash from people in the area. It would be tough to come to a town with so much hostility from local government and need zoning changes. They are going to go somewhere that actually wants them and sees the value and stability that all those jobs bring to the area. 

Don't confuse AFD with "hostile govt" because they don't want dense housing built adjacent to industrial buildings with high fire loads.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Pasken

Pasken 1309

Posted
Posted
1 minute ago, wood said:

Don't confuse AFD with "hostile govt" because they don't want dense housing built adjacent to industrial buildings with high fire loads.

Dude, I was just stating a fact. What is your deal? Did government touch you?

Link to comment
Share on other sites
wood

wood 11225

Posted
Posted (edited)
4 minutes ago, Pasken said:

Dude, I was just stating a fact. What is your deal? Did government touch you?

Meh. Go fuck yourself. You talk about 'hostile government' right after only mentioning one actual govt agency - AFD. AFD is just doing its job on that, upholding NFPA standards that you can expect any good FD to enforce. If you're gonna keep making stupid posts, expect to be called out for it.

Edited by wood
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Pasken

Pasken 1309

Posted
Posted
4 minutes ago, wood said:

Meh. Go fuck yourself. You talk about 'hostile government' right after only mentioning one actual govt agency - AFD. AFD is just doing its job on that, upholding NFPA standards that you can expect any good FD to enforce. If you're gonna keep making stupid posts, expect to be called out for it.

It wasn't my intention to imply the fire review was an example of hostility. The hostility is from city council members and a large amount of the population toward Amazon about the project. 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Fico

Fico 1778

Posted
Posted

I will also point out the AFD is drawing an issue with the rezone of the entire parcel of Eightfold, because they want a zoning that allows for an onsite residential component, and the parcel itself obviously abuts to the parcel that contains NXP/Qualcomm fab plant on the north side of the campus. The actual residential component, if there is one on site, would be about ~2500 linear feet away from the fab plan.  There are houses currently in existence to the north that are closer to the fab plant.

Whatever the status with that project, it doesn't necessarily take a rezone to get to the desired SF that Amazon is looking for.

3M is currently entitled for another 1.1M SF, they would need to come up with 5.5M more to reach 8M.

Statesman will only have about 1.5-2.0M SF, if they combine with the adjacent parcels there may be some legs there, but that is going to take time and the neighborhoods are going to fight every good thing that will eventually come out of the southside waterfront area.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
 Share
Go to topic listing


Football ... Basketball ... Baseball ... Other Sports ... Futbol ... 🤫995🤫 ... Gambling ... Movies & TV ... Music ... Hobbies ... Lulz ... Food & Travel ... Daily Texan ... Business and Markets ... Cloak Room ... Help ... For Sale ... Board Discussion ... Subscribe!... Donate!... Advertise... COOKIE MONSTER!

×
×
  • Create New...