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

[BnaBreaker]

I agree that it is rather surprising not to see Detroit on the short list.  One potentially telling fact to me is that there are *THREE* Washington DC area proposals that made the top 20.  Hmm...did Amazon just provide us all a peak at their hand? 

[NashvilleObserver]

55 minutes ago, Binbin98 said:

...Also without a doubt at this point Nashville is a STRONG dark horse candidate due to the universities and transportation initiatives, as well as possible sites such as river north being avaliable for building out (not to mention its quality of life and skyrocketing growth)......

Does anyone think that having a blank canvas on which to build, like River North, is enticing enough to sway the decision? If HQ2 is going to equal the Seattle HQ in size, it would be hard to squeeze all that space into a city like New York, Boston, or Newark. 

[PaulChinetti]

I definitely thought having a blank canvas would be a plus, that gives them the most flexibility. 

Also being right on the river seems like it would be a plus to me, don't have to worry about neighbors (ha) and gives you great places to build attractive features for your employees.

I would think they would get their own on/off ramps for the interstate, though not really sure how that would work. 

Getting more bridges across the river would seem like it would become a necessity also. They could become some real show pieces for the cities architecture. Somehow MDHA would F it up though and they would be awful and plain... HA.

[nashwatcher]

Make a deal for the PCS Metal site + area around the stadium + SoBro sites and name the New Transit System PRIME

[MLBrumby]

19 minutes ago, PaulChinetti said:

I definitely thought having a blank canvas would be a plus, that gives them the most flexibility. 

Also being right on the river seems like it would be a plus to me, don't have to worry about neighbors (ha) and gives you great places to build attractive features for your employees.

I would think they would get their own on/off ramps for the interstate, though not really sure how that would work. 

Getting more bridges across the river would seem like it would become a necessity also. They could become some real show pieces for the cities architecture. Somehow MDHA would F it up though and they would be awful and plain... HA.

Right about MDHA... like no buildings over 10 stories tall... that would kill the deal.   Nashville's fear of height.

[PaulChinetti]

47 minutes ago, nashwatcher said:

Make a deal for the PCS Metal site + area around the stadium + SoBro sites and name the New Transit System PRIME

The dream of all dreams, get rid of PCS and have a nice big corporate HQ, my head would explode. And I would have nothing to complain to my friends and wife about!

[DDIG]

1 hour ago, NashvilleObserver said:

Does anyone think that having a blank canvas on which to build, like River North, is enticing enough to sway the decision? If HQ2 is going to equal the Seattle HQ in size, it would be hard to squeeze all that space into a city like New York, Boston, or Newark. 

I' d guess River North is a big reason why Nashville made the cut. Just spit-balling here, but I doubt many other cities can offer 100+ acres of continuous property for redevelopment on a river inside the urban core. It is kind of the perfect storm for someone like Amazon.

[NashRugger]

Indianapolis is kind of a surprise. They have no mass transit besides busses, not true identity as a city, and it is more spread out than several cities on here. I'm guessing the state is willing to fork over heaven and earth to land them. They just want to beat Chicago really, that's all.

[smeagolsfree]

CNN article questions pick of cities without a major Air hub. In that list we can add Nashville, Indy, Columbus, and Austin. 

 

Miami is just a nod to Florida as they are not going to locate in Hurricane central.

[smeagolsfree]

Here is the article.

 

https://mg.mail.yahoo.com/d/folders/1/messages/ADEe3QoAAGCrWmDxFACr4D-JzFw

[jmtunafish]

5 minutes ago, smeagolsfree said:

CNN article questions pick of cities without a major Air hub. In that list we can add Nashville, Indy, Columbus, and Austin. 

And yet, if I remember correctly, Amazon never used the term "major air hub" in its list of requirements.  It simply said it needed an airport with direct flights to certain cities:  Seattle, San Francisco, Chicago, NYC, and Washington.  Nashville has all of that and with multiple airlines.

[DDIG]

1 minute ago, jmtunafish said:

And yet, if I remember correctly, Amazon never used the term "major air hub" in its list of requirements.  It simply said it needed an airport with direct flights to certain cities:  Seattle, San Francisco, Chicago, NYC, and Washington.  Nashville has all of that and with multiple airlines.

Nashville is also investing big time in its airport. We won't be Atlanta, but it will help.

[FluffyP13]

outside of the fact that we have great areas like river north that this could be built. i think the fact that our airport is booming and currently undergoing a total renovation and expansion is a huge plus. i also kind of think the fact that we have yet to build our mass transit system could be a benefit. we have a proposal on the table, long before this amazon hq talk even came up. it shows we are serious about implementing mass transit and could possibly tailor routes depending on where the hq ends up. maybe they could have a say to some extent and wouldn't be hard to build in some sort of tram or trolley from one of the stations. 

[ZestyEd]

If Nashville makes the Top 5 and with Amazon looking at the Healthcare industry as huge growth opportunity.  This would lift Nashville up! 
http://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/wait-what-amazon-and-apple-eye-building-ehrs

[KJHburg]

Congrats being on the "list".  But what do you really think of your chances given this so called short list?  I think Amazon internally has a shorter list in reality.  They have 3 metro DC choices, 2 metro NY choices.   I still think it will go to an Atlanta or Northern VA (which is why suburban Montgomery County MD was also picked) because VA will have to up the ante in incentives.  Not sure what the District of Columbia can do in that regard.  Given the fact Bezos owns a home there and the Washington Post leads me to believe he wants to go to the DC area and that is why he chose 3 localities in the metro area.  I would not discount Atlanta either.   There has not been an economic development project handled like this in decades so it is somewhat unpredictable.   Miami and Los Angeles? come on neither is practical for many reasons.  

[Pdt2f]

I think the air service issue only matters if amazon wants to sign like a corporate contract with a single airline, like many companies do for ease of paperwork and for seat-by-seat discounts. For instance, being in Atlanta would offer the opportunity for them to fly delta nonstop to pretty much any tech hub on several continents, as would American in Dallas or united in Washington. Nashville offers direct flights to almost every tech-heavy city in the country, but they’re all on different airlines so it wouldn’t be as convenient. 

[TNinVB]

And just think of the exposure they would have at the River North site with it’s proximity to the interstate and Nissan stadium. I could see a nationally televised game and buildings rising in the background with the Amazon logo on top! They would have their own little skyline apart from downtown. I kmow It’s wishful thinking, but so was MLS at one point. 

[jmtunafish]

26 minutes ago, TNinVB said:

And just think of the exposure they would have at the River North site with it’s proximity to the interstate and Nissan stadium. I could see a nationally televised game and buildings rising in the background with the Amazon logo on top! They would have their own little skyline apart from downtown. I kmow It’s wishful thinking, but so was MLS at one point. 

Speaking of which, "Amazon Stadium" sounds good for Nashville SC.

[DDIG]

https://www.newschannel5.com/news/nashville-makes-top-20-list-of-cities-vying-for-new-amazon-hq

[xtianpoop]

2 hours ago, KJHburg said:

Congrats being on the "list".  But what do you really think of your chances given this so called short list?  I think Amazon internally has a shorter list in reality.  They have 3 metro DC choices, 2 metro NY choices.   I still think it will go to an Atlanta or Northern VA (which is why suburban Montgomery County MD was also picked) because VA will have to up the ante in incentives.  Not sure what the District of Columbia can do in that regard.  Given the fact Bezos owns a home there and the Washington Post leads me to believe he wants to go to the DC area and that is why he chose 3 localities in the metro area.  I would not discount Atlanta either.   There has not been an economic development project handled like this in decades so it is somewhat unpredictable.   Miami and Los Angeles? come on neither is practical for many reasons.  

I'm inclined to think the strategy of including certain cities to have others up their ante is true. In no way do I wish to cut Nashville down, but there is a perspective to be had - I believe - that given its recently unprecedented growth and surging popularity (it city), among many things, the inclusion is to draw on the insecurities of more mature markets to up their offer. TN is known to be competitive with incentives, so this peripheral knowledge must surely - when everything is added together - weigh against those "more expected" cities.

We know how fear works. Nashville is the pretty, popular, young gun on the market. It's not too far saying this will affect incentives from more mature markets.

TL;DR: Nashville is an even smarter pick in the shortlist because being popular and growing is just enough of an outside fear to poke the coffers of targeted metros. (Again, in addition to Nash's package, advantages, etc etc)

[titanhog]

xtianpoop...what does your username mean?  Every time it pops up, I'm trying to figure out a way to pronounce it in my head. 

[NashvilleObserver]

10 hours ago, NashRugger said:

Indianapolis is kind of a surprise. They have no mass transit besides busses, not true identity as a city, and it is more spread out than several cities on here. I'm guessing the state is willing to fork over heaven and earth to land them....

I randomly looked at the Indy airport the other day.... just wondering how Nashville's compares, and it seems very tiny. I got the feeling their proposal was very good. Also, I think Airports werent THAT important. But also they have, like, no mass transit.

10 hours ago, smeagolsfree said:

CNN article questions pick of cities without a major Air hub. In that list we can add Nashville, Indy, Columbus, and Austin. Miami is just a nod to Florida as they are not going to locate in Hurricane central.

I read a CNN article and, yes, they said it was odd Amazon listed Nashville and Columbus because we don't have a major hub, but again, we have direct flight to pretty much every major city in America; also, importantly, we have direct flights to Seattle (through Alaska Airlines, but still....) 

9 hours ago, FluffyP13 said:

outside of the fact that we have great areas like river north that this could be built. i think the fact that our airport is booming and currently undergoing a total renovation and expansion is a huge plus. i also kind of think the fact that we have yet to build our mass transit system could be a benefit. we have a proposal on the table, long before this amazon hq talk even came up. it shows we are serious about implementing mass transit and could possibly tailor routes depending on where the hq ends up. maybe they could have a say to some extent and wouldn't be hard to build in some sort of tram or trolley from one of the stations. 

I think solid proposals are a big plus. I think Amazon will end up helping. 

8 hours ago, ZestyEd said:

If Nashville makes the Top 5 and with Amazon looking at the Healthcare industry as huge growth opportunity.  This would lift Nashville up! 
http://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/wait-what-amazon-and-apple-eye-building-ehrs

Amazon has begun heavily investing in pharmaceuticals and has plans to soon be a major pharma distibuter, another major reason why I think Nashville was very enticing.

4 hours ago, KJHburg said:

Congrats being on the "list".  But what do you really think of your chances given this so called short list?  I think Amazon internally has a shorter list in reality.  They have 3 metro DC choices, 2 metro NY choices.   I still think it will go to an Atlanta or Northern VA (which is why suburban Montgomery County MD was also picked) because VA will have to up the ante in incentives.  Not sure what the District of Columbia can do in that regard.  Given the fact Bezos owns a home there and the Washington Post leads me to believe he wants to go to the DC area and that is why he chose 3 localities in the metro area.  I would not discount Atlanta either.   There has not been an economic development project handled like this in decades so it is somewhat unpredictable.   Miami and Los Angeles? come on neither is practical for many reasons.  

To this point, I think one obvious reason that Nashville was included in the final 20 was the price of housing as well as the number of Universities in the area. Sure, they may not be neccesarily "tech focused" but no one can say that Nashville is not a strong college town! I think one major reason so many areas near DC were selected is the amount of available developable land. However, I think the price of housing near DC will be VERY prohibitive to having a large influx of workers come to the area. Jeff Bezos may want to have more of a presence in DC but again, that will be expensive. Also, I have this hope that Amazon will want to choose a city that they can help "show off" with, whether it be with infrastructure, urban planning, light rail, whatever. Amazon is currently a top contender for rockets to space, so who's to say they won't also want to "show off" with the way they can transform a city. Essentially, I think Nashville would be a great candidate, because not only does our city have a lot to offer Amazon, but I feel that (maybe behind the scenes) Amazon is looking for a city that they can have a lot to offer to too; possibly a city that will be a great investment opportunity for them (to be competitive to major proposals like Elon Musk's 'Boring Machine' project, as well as the healthcare field)

In other words, Nashville could be a great canvas for Amazon to show off it's many varied talents, which may get drowned out in a major city like New York or Boston or Philly.

Edited January 19, 2018 by NashvilleObserver

[jmtunafish]

9 minutes ago, NashvilleObserver said:

I read a CNN article and, yes, they said it was odd Amazon listed Nashville and Columbus because we don't have a major hub, but again, we have direct flight to pretty much every major city in America; also, importantly, we have direct flights to Seattle (through Alaska Airlines, but still....) 

Delta also flies to SEA from BNA.

[jmtunafish]

It looks like some people, including CNN, need to re-read Amazon's RFP.  Nowhere in its RFP does Amazon say they need to be near an airport hub.  Instead, it says, "Travel time to an international airport with daily direct flights to Seattle, New York, San Francisco/Bay Area, and Washington, D.C. is also an important consideration."  Nashville has that.

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/G/01/Anything/test/images/usa/RFP_3._V516043504_.pdf

• Seattle:  Alaska and Delta
• New York:  American (JFK and LGA), Delta (JFK and LGA), Southwest (LGA), United (EWR)
• San Francisco:  Alaska (SFO), Southwest (OAK), United (SFO)
• Washington:  American (DCA), Southwest (BWI and DCA),  United (IAD)

BNA is a larger airport than several others in the top 20;  Austin, Columbus, Indianapolis, Pittsburgh, and Raleigh all have smaller airports than BNA.

Edited January 19, 2018 by jmtunafish

[LA_TN]

4 hours ago, KJHburg said:

... I think Amazon internally has a shorter list in reality.  They have 3 metro DC choices, 2 metro NY choices.   I still think it will go to an Atlanta or Northern VA ...Miami and Los Angeles? come on neither is practical for many reasons.  

- always value your input!

Notes:
- 3 DC sites. Any questions?
- Bezos home in DC will not be a deciding factor
- MANY companies have their corporate HQ (especially healthcare) in the DC area, but they are typically only top brass, less than 50-100 employees
- Miami over Tampa Bay is a surprise
- if PX/healthcare is truly a factor, Nashville, then Boston, and Chicago
- BNA meets criteria well, only negative is too many cities that are only serviced by Southwest and supplier chain will need connections to China and Mexico, which will happen "soon"
- personally, I don't think the River North site has 1% chance
- Amazon lists tech talent as an important factor. Nashville struggles to attract the talent it has. The Amazon name could change that issue for the better, but that's a LOT of people to recruit to move here

**my opinion is Nashville is in top 10, still expect DC (MD), Boston, or Atlanta, possibly Philadelphia