Amazon HQ #2 To Orlando?

[prahaboheme]

This is not going to the burbs. 

[alex]

I don't know... Amazon is looking for another 8 million square feet. For reference, the SunTrust Center (downtown's tallest building) is just over 650,000 sq ft, so we're looking at about 12 SunTrust buildings worth of office space (and that's not including parking garages). They could go taller with less buildings, but then you run into FAA issues. Even though I have my doubts, it would be incredible to get that much square footage downtown. Amazon could completely fill in the Sentinel site and a good chunk of Creative Village. Not to mention all the housing it would spur. Insta-city. 

Another location that I don't think has been mentioned: the industrial area behind the historic Orlando Amtrak/SunRail station in SoDo. Orlando Health has been promoting and "urban" vision for this area for a while now. 

[AndyPok1]

I don't think we need to focus so much on the 8 million number.  They want 500K immediately and "up to 8 million beyond 2027".

1 hour ago, alex said:

Another location that I don't think has been mentioned: the industrial area behind the historic Orlando Amtrak/SunRail station in SoDo. Orlando Health has been promoting and "urban" vision for this area for a while now. 

I mentioned it super briefly, definitely has potential.

[jrs2]

I don't know.  Amazon "encouraged" Florida to place a bid.  Why?  So that they have more leverage with their secret preferred location?  Or, do they want to come to Florida?  Otherwise, why give a crap?

[popsiclebrandon]

1 hour ago, jrs2 said:

I don't know.  Amazon "encouraged" Florida to place a bid.  Why?  So that they have more leverage with their secret preferred location?  Or, do they want to come to Florida?  Otherwise, why give a crap?

Race to the bottom (this is probably the only corporate welfare I can see actually benefiting a city though) and Florida is right to work with low taxes. I'd be surprised if somewhere in Florida isn't/wasn't seriously considered. 

[dcluley98]

Another thing that Florida has going for it. . . No state income Taxes. That would help recruit some of those people and keep the wages lower. 

[JFW657]

They did a story on Channel 9 tonight that was pretty optimistic.

Quote

Could Amazon call Orlando home? City on list for next global headquarters. 

(link w/video^^)

The company.... needs 500,000 square feet of space at what will be its second headquarters, with plans to expand to 8 million square feet.  

By comparison, Walt Disney World employs 53,500 people and the Orange County Convention Center has 2.1 million square feet of exhibit space.

Amazon plans to make its announcement sometime in 2018. If Orlando is chosen, the company said it will need a 500,000 square-foot building immediately, as well as a “greenfield site of approximately 100 acres certified or pad ready.”

The planned build-out for Amazon will come in three initial phases, each with a $300 million to $600 million capital investment, and a total investment of $5 billion.

“Right now, we are still getting information from land owners, building owners and developers, and so we’re still walking through the process of matching up what they have to offer,” said Giuliani.  “So we’re working to bring it down to just a few to present to them.”

Early indications for possible sites include Orlando’s Creative Village and Lake Nona development, however, the Economic Partnership says sites from Seminole to Osceola are being studied.

In its request for proposal, Amazon lists several prerequisites for a site, including: Metropolitan areas with more than 1 million people, a stable and business-friendly environment, and urban or suburban locations with the potential to attract and retain strong technical talent.

 

 

[metal93]

If they ask for 100 acres then it'll have to be split between Creative Village and the Sentinel blocks, or the proposal will just go Lake Nona. This is sounding more like a suburban campus they're trying to aim for than anything - what cities have 100 contiguous acres lying around in their downtowns? And asking for it all to be "pad ready" is a bit much.

[JFW657]

Yeah, I've never really thought this project sounded like a downtown or inner city kind of thing.

Eight million square feet has sub-suburban written all over it.

Consider the following... if the footprint of the building(s) were 500' x 500' (5x the footprint of the WTC towers), that would = 250,000 sq ft per floor and there would have to be 32 total floors. 

That could be one 32 story building (unlikely), or two 16 story buildings (more likely) or maybe four 8 story buildings. If it were to be one building, it would be almost as big as NASA's VAB building.

up

[WAJAS]

A good proposal would give multiple options, so we should have these options:

• Creative Village / Sentinel Block / SoDo
• Tupperware area
• Lake Nona (with little to no good public transport options, I wouldn't take this area seriously.)

Sentinel could become a large public green space in the interim if the first one is picked.

[dcluley98]

The RFP says "within 30 miles of population center" which I would take to mean downtown and "could be, but does not have to be an urban or downtown campus".  There aren't really many downtown sites that can fit such a proposal. What they are unequivocal about, however, is "access to mass transit: On Site" and "Proximity to Major Highways: 1-2 Miles."
  
I think they would put a campus out of downtown, that is connected by a Rail line, thus Sand Lake, Meadow Woods, or Tupperware areas would look to fit the criteria. Just looking at a Google Aerial. Sites off of Wetherbee Road, with lots of space and potential for a new stop on Sunrail Airport connector would make sense. Close to 417/Turnpike, right next to the Airport with potential direct connection from new SunRail line, 13 miles from Downtown.  
 

Edited September 21, 2017 by dcluley98

[orlandouprise]

To me Tavistock would pay for light rail 100% out of pocket just to get this monster deal...

LN is the only area imo that ORL has that "vibe" that Amazon is looking for. Dont forget Neo City will be near. The airport, the beaches, upscale modern development, open land ready to build. Just seems like THE place for them.

My wish would be either CV or sentinel block though...

Light Rail to airport and to Tupperware station.

[jack]

I think CV is only 50 acres and UCF has a portion spoken for it. The Tribune site is like 17 acres if my memory is correct. Based on everyone's analysis, it seems Lake Nona and maybe Neocity are the only real choices. 

[smileguy]

There is other land West of I-4 outside of the CV borders that could be used as well. All along Division from Washington to Pine could be added, plus the parcel next to the Orlando City stadium would add about the same acreage as the Tribune site, and this could even touch the Magic complex and give that a shot in the arm, all currently connected via LYMMO.  If  the North and South LYMMO expansions were completed as proposed, most of the core is connected via premium transit service, and SODO industrial areas could be redeveloped for housing and other businesses.   I wouldn't count out the CBD, but it would pretty much max out available land. 

[alex]

Tremont Tower will be 200,000 square feet of office space,  next to I-4 with an integrated SunRail platform--maybe with the second phase it would be enough to house the initial Amazon HQ?

Although, with all this talk of greenfield sites, highway connections, etc. it seems more and more like the proposal is written specifically for Lake Nona...

[bqknight]

I can see it being Lake Nona. Fremont in Seattle houses a few large tech companies and it isn't immediately downtown, although it is closer than Lake Nona is to Orlando's downtown. If light rail existed however...it definitely has the right "vibe". 

[JFW657]

This report was on the CBS Evening News either yesterday or the day before. Orlando not mentioned amongst the possible contenders. Brookings representative mentions a couple of caveats re: how the sudden influx of so many highly paid workers could affect local housing markets and the diversion of resources away from necessary infrastructure and other needs in order to finance the tax incentives Amazon will undoubtedly require.

 

[WAJAS]

On 9/28/2017 at 12:00 PM, JFW657 said:

This report was on the CBS Evening News either yesterday or the day before. Orlando not mentioned amongst the possible contenders. Brookings representative mentions a couple of caveats re: how the sudden influx of so many highly paid workers could affect local housing markets and the diversion of resources away from necessary infrastructure and other needs in order to finance the tax incentives Amazon will undoubtedly require.

 

1

That point on the diversion of resources is a good point.  Orlando especially will be in need of all of its resources when it takes up SunRail from FDOT along with the rest of the region, which is especially true if they pursue any expansion of the system.  Lynx also needs more support through local tax revenue if it ever wants to be taken seriously.

[spenser1058]

Timothy Egan at the New York Times considers the changes Amazon has wrought on Seattle. Of course, we know a little about a huge firm transforming a previously sleepy town. And, of course, who knows, Amazon may do even more for us! An interesting read.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/20/opinion/how-amazon-took-seattles-soul.html?action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=opinion-c-col-right-region&region=opinion-c-col-right-region&WT.nav=opinion-c-col-right-region

[aent]

2 hours ago, spenser1058 said:

Timothy Egan at the New York Times considers the changes Amazon has wrought on Seattle. Of course, we know a little about a huge firm transforming a previously sleepy town. And, of course, who knows, Amazon may do even more for us! An interesting read.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/20/opinion/how-amazon-took-seattles-soul.html?action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=opinion-c-col-right-region&region=opinion-c-col-right-region&WT.nav=opinion-c-col-right-region

I haven't heard any impressive subsidy numbers out of Florida? Does anyone know (ballpark) what subsidies they were offered (for any and all cities in Florida)? I read that at least a few places were in the high billions of dollars, although they may have had higher taxes. If our subsidy is <$100m it would seem we lost.

[Boomer136]

This possibility got me thinking what is going on with Lee Vista? It certainly looks like it has the room for these sorts of projects but is there some issue as to why nothing seems to happen there? Or is it wetland mitigation for the airport or something?

[aent]

6 hours ago, Boomer136 said:

This possibility got me thinking what is going on with Lee Vista? It certainly looks like it has the room for these sorts of projects but is there some issue as to why nothing seems to happen there? Or is it wetland mitigation for the airport or something?

When you have Lake Nona in the vicinity that is trendy, and trying to work deals with desirable tenants to try to increase the value of their other land? Until Lake Nona builds out, I imagine it will be tough for Lee Vista to get anything that Lake Nona desires to have.

[spenser1058]

OBJ highlights Orlando's proposal for HQ2 which spotlights Creative Village and UCF Downtown but also considers other possibilities like Lake Nona.

Another big selling point in the proposal is our intraregional cooperation (I noticed recently that Tampa Bay has different economic development agencies for various areas around the region - it's a definite strength for us that we're more together, ummmm, Orlando United?)

https://www.bizjournals.com/orlando/news/2017/10/20/heres-what-orlandos-amazon-hq2-proposal-highlights.html

(BTW, I was able to access the article just by being registered without a subscription.)

[spenser1058]

BTW, Recode says Amazon got 238 submissions by the deadline. It will be interesting to see if the weeding out process follows the initial guidelines.

https://www.recode.net/platform/amp/2017/10/23/16521500/amazon-hq2-new-second-headquarters-rfp-proposals-bids

[alex]

Amazon Chooses 20 Finalists for Second Headquarters 

via New York Times

 

Nice to see that one Florida City—Miami—made it on the list:

Atlanta
Austin, Tex.
Boston
Chicago
Columbus, Ohio
Dallas
Denver
Indianapolis
Los Angeles
Miami
Montgomery County, Md.
Nashville
Newark
New York
Northern Virginia
Philadelphia
Pittsburgh
Raleigh, N.C.
Toronto
Washington, D.C.