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

[markhollin]

Regarding the airport issue:  don't you think that if Nashville were to win the bid that there would be several airlines vying for more direct flights to key Amazon related cities  (both domestic and international) out of BNA?  Of course they would.  

On another note: Nashville considered a dark horse candidate...

https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/2018/01/18/amazon-h-2-nashville-among-list-candidate-cities-new-headquarters/1043527001/

[japan]

Even if we don't really have a shot at this, we are playing it right as getting on this list of top 20 cities is good PR.  Keep in mind that the incentives offered by the cities on this list are a giant chunk of the decision.  We must be offering the moon.

[Flatrock]

19 hours ago, LA_TN said:

- 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

I hear ya - - and I believe we're a long-shot, BUT, I'm not buying the lack of tech talent as a reason. Here's why:

I'm not sure where you're getting the data to support the statement that  Nashville struggles to attract tech talent. True, we don't have a zillion tech  jobs here on offer. But, in my experience working with tech start-ups from the Entrepreneur Center and close working with a friend who catalyzes a lot of the entrepreneurial energy in this area through Ideacon -- I would opine otherwise. People want to be here...from virtually every professional vocation/discipline, including tech. True, there aren't thousands of 'tech' peeps lying around Nashville just kickin' it. But I seriously doubt there are 50,000....or 10,000...or 5,000 tech folks sitting on their collective hands doing nothing in DC, Boston, Austin, Atlanta, Philly, Dallas, etc..  

WHEREVER HQ2 goes, a massive recruiting effort will be absolutely required - with an epic relocation/migration of tech talent to the chosen city.

One of the professional hats I wear is managing partner of an IT managed service provider. We regularly recruit from outside the area. People want to move here. We know this already. It's so easy to recruit to Nashville with a job that pays competitively. As Nashville's salaries have risen significantly in the past few years, we compete fairly well with the rest of the country. If I was 28 years old and offered 100k to live in Boston, DC or Nashville -- my clear choice is here. It provides the quickest route to establish home ownership, building wealth, etc.

But, I don't think I really want Amazon here. From my selfish standpoint, competing against them for tech talent will be damn near impossible (pay-wise)...even though my company's culture would be more attractive. Again,  they can bring/recruit the talent wherever they land. 

I think it'll go to Atlanta, Philly, Dallas or Austin. JMO. I also believe it could be Nashville - but I don't relish the idea of our town being radically changed from a single, uncontrollable outside force. Atlanta can absorb Amazon much easier than us....

Edited January 20, 2018 by Flatrock

[smeagolsfree]

Rankings of cities from MSN and WSJ.

 

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/these-are-all-of-the-cities-amazon-could-choose-for-its-dollar5-billion-headquarters-ranked-by-the-experts/ss-AAuRIpC?ocid=spartandhp#image=17

https://hq2prime.com/2017/12/31/wsj-ranks-amazon-hq2-cities/

[bhibbs]

For those of you who like these sorts of things.....

Location of Amazon HQ2 (Bovada):

Nashville +800
Washington, D.C. +1000
Atlanta +1200
Dallas/Austin/Philadelphia +1400
Pittsburgh/Indy/LA/Montgomery County +1500
Chicago/Denver +1600
New York City/Raleigh/Toronto/Northern Virginia/Newark +1800 Columbus/Boston/Miami +2000

[smeagolsfree]

I had to look up what you were posting as I have never heard of the site. I'm not a gambler, so I was unfamiliar with this site. I am not a sports fan either which made it even more unfamiliar. To be honest, there is not one team, local, college, HS, or pro sport that I remotely follow.

[bhibbs]

2 minutes ago, smeagolsfree said:

. To be honest, there is not one team, local, college, HS, or pro sport that I remotely follow.

we need to get Mark to drag you out to a Preds game my friend.

[DDIG]

2 hours ago, markhollin said:

Regarding the airport issue:  don't you think that if Nashville were to win the bid that there would be several airlines vying for more direct flights to key Amazon related cities  (both domestic and international) out of BNA?  Of course they would.  

On anpther note: Nashville considered a dark horse candidate...

https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/2018/01/18/amazon-h-2-nashville-among-list-candidate-cities-new-headquarters/1043527001/

The easy answer to this is obviously Amazon starts its own airline called Amazon Prime Air and bases it at BNA. "Free shipping of yourself with prime membership" - All is good. 

[Edgefield D]

I'm going to take Amazon at their word that they used their criteria to come up with the list of 20. I think they may have thoughts on where this will go, but I think they are now going to take these 20 and really go through them with a fine tooth comb to determine which city is going to work best for them in the long term. 

The thought of them choosing Nashville is both exhilarating and terrifying at the same time.....for me.

[PruneTracy]

31 minutes ago, DDIG said:

"Free shipping of yourself with prime membership" - All is good. 

I'm going to pick the No Rush option so I can get some vouchers for groceries.

[DDIG]

*SORRY REALIZED AFTER FACT THIS WAS ALREADY POSTED*

 

Location of Amazon HQ2 (Bovada):

 

Nashville +800

Washington, D.C. +1000

Atlanta +1200

Dallas/Austin/Philadelphia +1400

Pittsburgh/Indy/LA/Montgomery County +1500

Chicago/Denver +1600

New York City/Raleigh/Toronto/Northern Virginia/Newark +1800

Columbus/Boston/Miami +2000

Edited January 19, 2018 by DDIG
Already posted

[MidTenn1]

5 minutes ago, DDIG said:

Location of Amazon HQ2 (Bovada):

 

Nashville +800

Washington, D.C. +1000

Atlanta +1200

Dallas/Austin/Philadelphia +1400

Pittsburgh/Indy/LA/Montgomery County +1500

Chicago/Denver +1600

New York City/Raleigh/Toronto/Northern Virginia/Newark +1800

Columbus/Boston/Miami +2000

Am I reading this right? Is Nashville the highest ranked?

[DDIG]

19 minutes ago, PHofKS said:

Am I reading this right? Is Nashville the highest ranked?

Yes: http://www.oddsshark.com/other/amazon-hq2-betting-prop-odds

[jmtunafish]

1 hour ago, bhibbs said:

For those of you who like these sorts of things.....

Location of Amazon HQ2 (Bovada):

Nashville +800
Washington, D.C. +1000
Atlanta +1200
Dallas/Austin/Philadelphia +1400
Pittsburgh/Indy/LA/Montgomery County +1500
Chicago/Denver +1600
New York City/Raleigh/Toronto/Northern Virginia/Newark +1800 Columbus/Boston/Miami +2000

I would love to see their reasonings.  But I do like our odds.

[xtianpoop]

14 hours ago, titanhog said:

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. 

Pronounce it "ex-chin poop." My first name is Christian (after Duke's most hated player), and while it's a funny handle resulting from collegiate inside jokes (poop being a more appropriate word to say after a gaffe), I synesthetically like how it reads.

4 hours ago, Flatrock said:

I hear ya - - and I believe we're a long-shot, BUT, I'm not buying the lack of tech talent as a reason. Here's why:

I'm not sure where you're getting the data to support the statement that  Nashville struggles to attract tech talent. [...] People want to be here...from virtually every professional vocation/discipline, including tech. True, there aren't thousands of 'tech' peeps lying around Nashville just kickin' it. But I seriously doubt there are 50,000....or 10,000...or 5,000 tech folks sitting on their collective hands doing nothing in DC, Boston, Austin, Atlanta, Philly, Dallas, etc..  

WHEREVER HQ2 goes, a massive recruiting effort will be absolutely required - with an epic relocation/migration of tech talent to the chosen city.

One of the professional hats I wear is managing partner of an IT managed service provider. We regularly recruit from outside the area. People want to move here. We know this already. It's so easy to recruit to Nashville with a job that pays competitively. As Nashville's salaries have risen significantly in the past few years, we compete fairly well with the rest of the country. If I was 28 years old and offered 100k to live in Boston, DC or Nashville -- my clear choice is here. It provides the quickest root to establish home ownership, building wealth, etc.

As a young tech professional, I can vouch for this. When Chattanooga's market is tight or employers stingy- Nashville is the immediate go-to. Amazon has consistently rolling positions, meaning wanted postings up perpetually. What's more - unlike many medium to small tech companies in TN - Amazon is about pipeline building. The bar is high, but they do take new developers, programmers, etc and give them their first jobs. Senior positions are always difficult to recruit, but it only takes a few seniors to lead, mentor many juniors.

[bhibbs]

5 hours ago, PHofKS said:

Am I reading this right? Is Nashville the highest ranked?

at this time, yes.
I had someone explain it to me a little better:

"Basically it means that if you put 100 bucks down on Nashville at +800.. you win 800. Bigger the odds. Bigger the payout"

[markhollin]

[nashvylle]

so that seems River North is not a possibility, but Nashville Yards/5th and Broadway is our best chance. 

[nashwatcher]

or SoBro, there are plenty of lots there as well

[BnaBreaker]

I really feel like Nashville isn't big enough to absorb a company like Amazon without having to essentially sell it's soul in the process.  I don't want the city to become Amazonville.  

[FluffyP13]

the renderings of river north buildings all seem to be within walking distance of each other to my eyes. don't know why that would count that site out. a stones throw to downtown

[smeagolsfree]

I would not discount River north as a candidate. Its still close enough to downtown.

[LA_TN]

12 hours ago, Flatrock said:

I hear ya - - and I believe we're a long-shot, BUT, I'm not buying the lack of tech talent as a reason. Here's why: ...

 

7 hours ago, xtianpoop said:

... they do take new developers, programmers, etc and give them their first jobs. Senior positions are always difficult to recruit, but it only takes a few seniors to lead, mentor many juniors.

- Nashville is just not attractive to top level tech talent, not big enough?, maybe the country music?, lack of creativity?, who knows. While Nashville has come a long way; techies are still excited to move to LA, Austin, Seattle, Silicon Valley, Atlanta, etc, not Nashville

- I am a senior level techie. 35 search hits in LinkedIn, by Thursday morning when I woke up plus numerous emails, messages, etc. Annoying. NOT  tooting my own horn, just demonstrating the need for QUALITY talent

My personal experience with the influx resulted in more newbies and junior talent. Mid-level and senior-level talent is nearly non-existent. Honestly, I feel like we get the leftovers and rejects from other cities, but maybe I'm a bit harsh. For what it's worth, of 5, I see 1 great, 1 good, 1 ok, 1 slow/lazy, 1 will be arrested. Not too good when compared to LA, Austin, Atlanta, etc.

Sorry, my opinion from 20+ years experience

[Hey_Hey]

Senior people don't want to move to new cities, and that's not something unique to tech.  Senior people have spouses, kids, dogs, and equity in their homes.  Moving disrupts all of this.  I don't think there's anything that is necessarily un-appealing about Nashville to tech people, it's just that Nashville doesn't have a deep bench of junior people already here that will become senior people.

I'm not convinced that HQ2 will be the major tech headquarters either.  I'm sure it will have tech, but Amazon's shear size requires massive amounts of people that support the non-tech side.  For example, maybe they foresee this new headquarters being the logistics center for Amazon where they manage all of their airplanes and trucks.  Maybe they will use this as their compliance headquarters for government and financial filings. If it is in Nashville it would make sense for them to move all of their Prime Music employees here.   They could probably have 5000 employees serving in a shared services center like we've seen with UBS, Warby Parker, and others that have located in Nashville. 

 

[MidTenn1]

I think it's very possible Seattle will still  be the primary IT center managing the logistics of running the massive distribution system. However, I can see HQ2 as a place for various divisions and ancillary industries such as music, entertainment production and healthcare, requiring less IT talent and more management, legal, sales,  and production talent. In that case,  Nashville would be the perfect place to grow those kinds of industries.

Put each division in a skyscraper, then build movie, TV and recording studios  on their campus at River North where they can see and harness the energy, growth, talent and uniqueness of Music City, USA.