Amazon: The Thread | 5,000 Jobs | 1M SQFT in Nashville Yards

[U_R_]

Yes, Midtown does need some more density, but it is actually really filling up. I don't think it is any "less" dense than Uptown Charlotte. 

 

[BnaBreaker]

51 minutes ago, Dale said:

Don’t see why you can’t have both. For example, the just announced (likely) 700-footer, for Charlotte, is going to swallow up a two acre surface parking lot in the CBD.

Agreed, I just mean there isn't any reason an Atlantan should be upset at the thought of getting density instead of height in Midtown Atlanta, because even after all these years of booming growth in Atlanta, Midtown thins out very quickly once you get a block or two off of Peachtree.  

[MLBrumby]

Midtown is already larger than Charlotte and Nashville combined in height and density.  It even has a subway. The height thing is not a big issue there. It needs better surface traffic flow, both foot, bicycle and motorized. 

[Dale]

4 minutes ago, MLBrumby said:

Midtown is already larger than Charlotte and Nashville combined in height and density.  It even has a subway. The height thing is not a big issue there. It needs better surface traffic flow, both foot, bicycle and motorized. 

I think it’s doing comparatively well on all fronts. I just think it’s peculiar that while so many other cities are going tall ... mighty Atlanta is stuck on stubby.

[MidTenn1]

23 hours ago, PHofKS said:

Atlanta recently landed the Norfolk Southern Railroad HQ relocation and was expecting a large tower. However, they just learned there will be two 22 story buildings instead housing the company.  

I should have elaborated on the point I was trying to make about corporations seeming to prefer a larger, wider floor plate over height.  That's what Asurion got when they put 500,000 sf in a nine story building.  There may be some kind of climate controlled connectivity between the buildings in the form of bridges or a lower level base. Maybe even escalators between floors. You want mobility between floors and buildings and an elevator is about the worst way move around. I know. I worked many years in an 18 story office buildings.

I didn't intend this to be a discussion about skyline comparisons.

[TheRaglander]

12 hours ago, PHofKS said:

I should have elaborated on the point I was trying to make about corporations seeming to prefer a larger, wider floor plate over height.  That's what Asurion got when they put 500,000 sf in a nine story building.  There may be some kind of climate controlled connectivity between the buildings in the form of bridges or a lower level base. Maybe even escalators between floors. You want mobility between floors and buildings and an elevator is about the worst way move around. I know. I worked many years in an 18 story office buildings.

I didn't intend this to be a discussion about skyline comparisons.

100%.  I've said this before... look at all the techie HQ campuses.  Collaboration is the key.  Not height.  Large, wide open spaces with big trendy meeting rooms and places to hold bean bags and other ridiculous things to attract the millennial work force is the new norm.  (Apple, Google, Microsoft, Oracle, Fed Ex, etc. etc. etc. all have wide low-height campuses)

Height is better off for massive density in a small footprint.  Hotels, condos and apartments.  UNLESS a builder creates a high rise for office use that doesn't have a lead tenant.  That way a company can have two floors... and another may want 3 or 4.  Then another may only want half a floor but still wants the downtown vibe.  But I guess just building a high rise with the "build it and they will come" mentality is gone since the recession?

[MLBrumby]

Banks and financial institutions have always chosen the bigger, ego driven buildings, partly as a show of strength. Not always flashy, but iconic.

Healthcare on the other hand has gone in the opposite direction. Understated, even invisible to avoid a perception of profiting from illness.

[titanhog]

Question for you guys.  Once this Amazon “campus” is complete, will it only be Nashville, Seattle, DC and NYC with Amazon corporate locations (so far)?

[MidTenn1]

56 minutes ago, titanhog said:

Question for you guys.  Once this Amazon “campus” is complete, will it only be Nashville, Seattle, DC and NYC with Amazon corporate locations (so far)?

I think they have some medical related and prescription mail order HQ offices in the Boston area.

[SoundScan]

2 hours ago, titanhog said:

Question for you guys.  Once this Amazon “campus” is complete, will it only be Nashville, Seattle, DC and NYC with Amazon corporate locations (so far)?

They have significant corporate and engineering offices in many other North American cities, including Austin, Vancouver, Denver, San Diego, Los Angeles, Boston, Portland, and others. Here in the Bay Area they already lease more than 1.5 million sq. ft. of office space and employ around 6,000 engineers/designers/ops/pm/etc., most of them at AWS, Twitch, and at their R&D division, Amazon Lab126. Still, Amazon's eventual corporate presence in Nashville will be rivaled only by Seattle, NYC, DC, SF, and Vancouver--all of them much larger cities. Nashville just moved up a weight class.

[Bos2Nash]

1 hour ago, PHofKS said:

I think they have some medical related and prescription mail order HQ offices in the Boston area.

They have a strong foothold in the Boston market (hospitals and tech). I believe they already have around 2,000 jobs in Boston Seaport neighborhood. Probably why Boston offered very little in incentives for the HQ2 (rumored)

Edited December 10, 2018 by Bos2Nash

[grilled_cheese]

8 hours ago, TheRaglander said:

100%.  I've said this before... look at all the techie HQ campuses.  Collaboration is the key.  Not height.  Large, wide open spaces with big trendy meeting rooms and places to hold bean bags and other ridiculous things to attract the millennial work force is the new norm.  (Apple, Google, Microsoft, Oracle, Fed Ex, etc. etc. etc. all have wide low-height campuses)

Do you really think Millennials like open work spaces and bean bag chairs or is this hyperbole?

[Dale]

6 minutes ago, grilled_cheese said:

Do you really think Millennials like open work spaces and bean bag chairs or is this hyperbole?

Worked at a Millennial-heavy company and can confirm that they do like bean bag chairs and nerf guns.

[grilled_cheese]

22 minutes ago, Dale said:

Worked at a Millennial-heavy company and can confirm that they do like bean bag chairs and nerf guns. 

Leave the nerf guns out of this.

[Dale]

1 minute ago, grilled_cheese said:

Leave the nerf guns out of this.

Hey, they did have sensible nerf gun regulations ... but only after somebody had their eye nearly put out.

[Nathan_in_DC]

On 12/7/2018 at 12:10 AM, Binbin98 said:

Amazon coming here still is a big deal and this development will be a big economic boon for the city.

Let's face it. Nashville will never be a tall skyscraper city. There are height restrictions unfortunately that limit it currently on that regard. I do feel however that in the future Nashville eventually will receive a couple of buildings in the 700 ft range, possibly even 800 ft range if continued growth and corporate revocations occur, which could spur new residential developments, but I can't see a building in Nashville taller than 1000 ft ever. 

I do have a European perspective on this though I admit. Countries in Europe such as Belgium, Denmark, The Netherlands and Switzerland all do not have any skyscrapers taller than the Batman Building in their countries, but yet hold immense economic and cultural power within the E.U. and abroad. In London where I live only 8-9 buildings in the city are taller than the Batman Building among the 75 tallest in the city, if that can give some perspective. 

Agreed. Tall is nice but I'd rather have a good built environment any day of the week. A couple blocks of 8 storey buildings that address the street, encourage pedestrians, and support a vibrant neighborhood are better than any single 40-storey tower.

[titanhog]

54 minutes ago, Nathan_in_the_UK said:

Agreed. Tall is nice but I'd rather have a good built environment any day of the week. A couple blocks of 8 storey buildings that address the street, encourage pedestrians, and support a vibrant neighborhood are better than any single 40-storey tower.

Yes...developments like 5+B and NYards will be game changers, not because of their height.

[Tennessine]

12 hours ago, Dale said:

Worked at a Millennial-heavy company and can confirm that they do like bean bag chairs and nerf guns.

I was born the first year outside of the Millennial cohort, so this is something I will never understand  Apparently, the kids in my generation like hoverboards, mumble rap and this cringey app called "Tik Tok." If you're in sales, you'll need to shift the paradigm to accompany that crap soon. 

[Dale]

6 minutes ago, nativetenn said:

I was born the first year outside of the Millennial cohort, so this is something I will never understand  Apparently, the kids in my generation like hoverboards, mumble rap and this cringey app called "Tik Tok." If you're in sales, you'll need to shift the paradigm to accompany that crap soon. 

The Millennials where I worked liked the 80’s music they piped in. They thought their own generation’s music was crap.

[WebberThomas4]

https://www.bizjournals.com/nashville/news/2018/12/11/notable-nashville-transit-opponent-prepares-to.html

Can someone with a subscription (or the page source function) provide a summary of this? 

[nashvylle]

ne of the most prolific grassroots opponents of Metro's failed multibillion-dollar transit overhaul is re-emerging to take on the city's newest corporate recruit: Amazon Inc.

The People’s Alliance for Transit, Housing and Employment (better known as PATHE) will hold an "Amazon, The Grinch that Stole our Homes" rally Tuesday afternoon, where supporters will march from the $1 billion development site slated to house Amazon's Nashville operations to the Metro Courthouse, according to a media advisory. The advisory states "featured speakers will include residents who recently relocated to Nashville after being pushed out of Seattle because of increasing costs of living, Nashville residents struggling to find affordable housing in the city and individuals negatively impacted by the 'status quo' budget."

Questions about the city’s long-term affordability have intensified in recent years, as Nashville’s boom has exacerbated the city’s wealth gap. Accordingly, preserving the city’s affordability has become a dominant issue facing city officials and business leaders.

As with the transit debate, PATHE has laid out a list of demands for Metro to meet as part of its opposition. According to a news release, those demands include:

• Funding the construction and retention of 31,000 units of affordable housing. (The mayor's office has previously said Nashville will face an affordable housing shortage of 31,000 units by 2025 if no action is taken.)
• Funding the construction of 5,000 additional units of affordable housing to "address the 'Amazon Effect' on Davidson County’s housing market. (This figure matches the number of jobs Amazon promises to bring to Nashville.)
• Refusal to grant any incentives to Amazon. (Metro has promised to pay Amazon roughly $15 million, or $500 per job created over a seven-year period — Metro's standard incentive. Separately, the company stands to benefit from the $15 million in infrastructure spending Metro has tapped for the Nashville Yards development.)
  • Drafting a funding referendum to expand the city's mass-transit system to focus on "the needs of working people first." (Mayor David Briley has said if he is re-elected in next year's mayoral election, he will not pursue another funding referendum. Voters overwhelmingly rejected Metro's original referendum this May.)

  • PATHE includes representatives from Homes For All Nashville, a housing advocacy group; the Music City Riders United, which includes riders of the city's current transit system; Democracy Nashville, which is most known for backing the city's Ban the Box campaign to support hiring efforts for people with felony convictions; and Amalgamated Transit Union & Local 1235, which is the city's transit union.

    In an emailed statement, Thomas Mulgrew, the mayor's spokesman, said: "Mayor Briley’s top priority is working to spread equity and economic opportunity to everyone in Nashville. His work in getting the recently-filed disparity legislation done and the Nashville GRAD initiative are just the latest examples of this commitment. The mayor will continue to invest the people who currently call Nashville home, as we continue to attract outside business and investment."

    Comment was not immediately available from Amazon.

[LA_TN]

11 minutes ago, WebberThomas4 said:

https://www.bizjournals.com/nashville/news/2018/12/11/notable-nashville-transit-opponent-prepares-to.html

Can someone with a subscription (or the page source function) provide a summary of this? 

"The People’s Alliance for Transit, Housing and Employment (better known as PATHE) will hold an "Amazon, The Grinch that Stole our Homes" rally Tuesday afternoon"

... concerned about affordable housing, Amazon will push housing prices higher, etc

[smeagolsfree]

17 minutes ago, WebberThomas4 said:

https://www.bizjournals.com/nashville/news/2018/12/11/notable-nashville-transit-opponent-prepares-to.html

Can someone with a subscription (or the page source function) provide a summary of this? 

The People’s Alliance for Transit, Housing and Employment (better known as PATHE) will hold an "Amazon, The Grinch that Stole our Homes" rally Tuesday afternoon, where supporters will march from the $1 billion development site slated to house Amazon's Nashville operations to the Metro Courthouse, according to a media advisory. The advisory states "featured speakers will include residents who recently relocated to Nashville after being pushed out of Seattle because of increasing costs of living, Nashville residents struggling to find affordable housing in the city and individuals negatively impacted by the 'status quo' budget."

As with the transit debate, PATHE has laid out a list of demands for Metro to meet as part of its opposition. According to a news release, those demands include:

• Funding the construction and retention of 31,000 units of affordable housing. (The mayor's office has previously said Nashville will face an affordable housing shortage of 31,000 units by 2025 if no action is taken.)
• Funding the construction of 5,000 additional units of affordable housing to "address the 'Amazon Effect' on Davidson County’s housing market. (This figure matches the number of jobs Amazon promises to bring to Nashville.)
• Refusal to grant any incentives to Amazon. (Metro has promised to pay Amazon roughly $15 million, or $500 per job created over a seven-year period — Metro's standard incentive. Separately, the company stands to benefit from the $15 million in infrastructure spending Metro has tapped for the Nashville Yards development.)
• Drafting a funding referendum to expand the city's mass-transit system to focus on "the needs of working people first." (Mayor David Briley has said if he is re-elected in next year's mayoral election, he will not pursue another funding referendum. Voters overwhelmingly rejected Metro's original referendum this May.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   

PATHE includes representatives from Homes For All Nashville, a housing advocacy group; the Music City Riders United, which includes riders of the city's current transit system; Democracy Nashville, which is most known for backing the city's Ban the Box campaign to support hiring efforts for people with felony convictions; and Amalgamated Transit Union & Local 1235, which is the city's transit union.

[PaulChinetti]

So now they are for more transit am I reading this correctly?

[WebberThomas4]

Ahh, PATHE..

Their intentions are good, but their ideas and demands aren’t rooted in reality, IMO.

Here’s my estimate for how much their affordable housing demands would cost: 36,000 units at the roughly $250,000 a unit (factoring in land cost, infrastructure work, labor/materials, interest) comes out to around $9 billion. That should be easy to come by given Nashville’s current budget constraints.