Oracle, 60 acres at River North, 1,200,000 sq. ft. of space, $1.2B Investment, 8,500 jobs

[TheRaglander]

I wouldn't expect massive towers either.  Tech companies like flat/wide collaboration spaces.  But their presence alone could spark tall-boys for living.

[MLBrumby]

I have a feeling the next mayor of Nashville (Freddie O'Connell) will be getting this one done.   Don't know what he can do other than make lots of noise about this "Not getting away"... and I'm sure there's an uphill fight against Mayor Bushybrows, but Metro Council politics being reputed as very "Back Door", I suspect he is building something akin to a coalition to counter anything MBB would be inclined to do to sabotage incentives. Most likely he/they are working on the state level. 

[NashRugger]

Oracle has changed is corporate HQ from Redwood City, CA to Austin, TX per their latest SEC filing & confirmed by their CEO.

https://www.sec.gov/ix?doc=/Archives/edgar/data/1341439/000156459020056896/orcl-10q_20201130.htm

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/12/11/oracle-is-moving-its-headquarters-from-silicon-valley-to-austin-texas.html

Edited December 11, 2020 by NashRugger

[nashvylle]

Just heard from a friend Oracle is moving HQ to Austin. Hopefully a big office location will still happen in Nashville. 

Just now, NashRugger said:

Oracle has changed is corporate HQ from Redwood City, CA to Austin, TX per their latest SEC filing. 

https://www.sec.gov/ix?doc=/Archives/edgar/data/1341439/000156459020056896/orcl-10q_20201130.htm

Any mention of other cities getting offices? 

[titanhog]

So…how close were we to having Oracle in the bag before Mr. Mayor got involved?

[jmtunafish]

20 minutes ago, nashvylle said:

Just heard from a friend Oracle is moving HQ to Austin. Hopefully a big office location will still happen in Nashville. 

Any mention of other cities getting offices? 

From the CNBC article:

“In addition, we will continue to support major hubs for Oracle around the world, including those in the United States such as Redwood City, Austin, Santa Monica, Seattle, Denver, Orlando and Burlington, among others, and we expect to add other locations over time,” Oracle said. 

[smeagolsfree]

I am unsure how this affects Nashville, but could be good news as Oricle already has a huge campus in Austin and this could mean they will move forward here. Just wishful thinking, but I have heard it is not dead and this could have been one of the delays as they are trying to figure out a game plan.

I have talked to W Willams about companies leaving CA and I think they will be leaving in droves as that state is a disaster zone, literaly!

Elon Musk moved his residence from CA to TX last week and I think he will move the rest of his mfg. facilities  at some point. He think Silicon Valley is way over rated and I tend to agree.

[MLBrumby]

I know a high level exec at Oracle and I never heard they were looking for a new location for their HQ.  Known her since B-school 25 years ago.  I'd guess a  HQ relocation has been on a back burner and was placed front-and-center when California continued their lockdown. The tech firm (and others) have noticed how much they would save in income taxes alone by moving to no-tax states like TX and TN.  They probably had that under consideration for a long time, following other companies out of there. I think it's too bad that Nashville was NOT ready for consideration (cities always need to be "At The Ready" for anything at anytime), but I don't know they were considered. I do know they were looking at Nashville for a development hub (health and logistics) until Cooper stepped on it.  And there's no mistake about the fact that he scared them away. I will try and follow up with her sometime after the new year to see if Oracle is still considering anything in Nashville. I will be very surprised if they are, since they're putting so much into Austin now. 

I'm quite disappointed in my alma mater Vandy and what appears to be a lackluster approach to partnering with Nashville the way Stanford has done with the whole San Jose/Bay Area to develop the talent. There just seems to be an utter lack of interest in supporting new and relocating companies in Nashville. 

3 minutes ago, smeagolsfree said:

I am unsure how this affects Nashville, but could be good news as Oricle already has a huge campus in Austin and this could mean they will move forward here. Just wishful thinking, but I have heard it is not dead and this could have been one of the delays as they are trying to figure out a game plan.

I have talked to W Willams about companies leaving CA and I think they will be leaving in droves as that state is a disaster zone, literaly!

Elon Musk moved his residence from CA to TX last week and I think he will move the rest of his mfg. facilities  at some point. He think Silicon Valley is way over rated and I tend to agree.

Good points... and to my comment here, Nashville needs to aggressively pursue those CA companies, but Cooper will not do it. 

[DDIG]

31 minutes ago, smeagolsfree said:

I am unsure how this affects Nashville, but could be good news as Oricle already has a huge campus in Austin and this could mean they will move forward here. Just wishful thinking, but I have heard it is not dead and this could have been one of the delays as they are trying to figure out a game plan.

I have talked to W Willams about companies leaving CA and I think they will be leaving in droves as that state is a disaster zone, literaly!

Elon Musk moved his residence from CA to TX last week and I think he will move the rest of his mfg. facilities  at some point. He think Silicon Valley is way over rated and I tend to agree.

I think Nashville is still very much alive here. Not sure if we were in running for actual HQ but would make a lot more sense to take it somewhere where they have a significant presence versus waiting for a campus to be built.

[NashRugger]

4 hours ago, smeagolsfree said:

I am unsure how this affects Nashville, but could be good news as Oricle already has a huge campus in Austin and this could mean they will move forward here. Just wishful thinking, but I have heard it is not dead and this could have been one of the delays as they are trying to figure out a game plan.

I have talked to W Willams about companies leaving CA and I think they will be leaving in droves as that state is a disaster zone, literaly!

Elon Musk moved his residence from CA to TX last week and I think he will move the rest of his mfg. facilities  at some point. He think Silicon Valley is way over rated and I tend to agree.

Folks can say CA is a disaster all they want, but with such a high concentration of global companies & talent, and the continued evolution of tech, you may see more corporate moves to more tax-friendly states to trim costs but Silicon Valley is & will always be there. Also look at San Diego with biotech just absolutely exploding out there.  Elon Musk, eh, he says some really out there kind of things lately and it makes you scratch your head sometimes. He talks trash about the very region that gave birth & rise to his company, & that makes no sense to me what so ever.

That being said, watch the evolution of certain states, namely Texas, as the influx continues & see how they change and evolve because money talks. As Texas is lower in cost for personal taxes, if you're looking to buy a house, you get absolutely destroyed by property taxes. Folks have said California is dying, well, that's just blatantly false. Companies are just looking to move to more tax-friendly states for lower wages & to pad their bottom lines further, let's be real here. (see Amazon for further information)

[satalac]

I wouldn't say California is a disaster, but they are a victim of their own success. They're still going to be the 800 lb gorilla in the IT world, but what's going on now is more of a correction. You simply can't support that many businesses with the government that they have there. 

[titanhog]

10 hours ago, NashRugger said:

Folks can say CA is a disaster all they want, but with such a high concentration of global companies & talent, and the continued evolution of tech, you may see more corporate moves to more tax-friendly states to trim costs but Silicon Valley is & will always be there. Also look at San Diego with biotech just absolutely exploding out there.  Elon Musk, eh, he says some really out there kind of things lately and it makes you scratch your head sometimes. He talks trash about the very region that gave birth & rise to his company, & that makes no sense to me what so ever.

That being said, watch the evolution of certain states, namely Texas, as the influx continues & see how they change and evolve because money talks. As Texas is lower in cost for personal taxes, if you're looking to buy a house, you get absolutely destroyed by property taxes. Folks have said California is dying, well, that's just blatantly false. Companies are just looking to move to more tax-friendly states for lower wages & to pad their bottom lines further, let's be real here. (see Amazon for further information)

Part of the reason they should move to TN instead of TX.  Our property taxes, on average, are more than twice as low as TX…and on par with CA.

[smeagolsfree]

Right now I do now that for every one person moving to CA there are two leaving.  So if that trend continues, the state will be in deep trouble in ten years.

You cant deny they are having huge issues with drought,  fire, landslides, homelessness, cost of living, and they have not had a major earhtquake in a while. So if that happens, it could be another reason to pack the bags.

On December first Hewlitt Packard announced theynwere moving their HG to Houston, and in August Pintrist paid 89.5 million just to trminate its lease in San Francisco. 

They join Toyota that recently moved their HQ to Dallas. Thats not to mention Nissan moving to Nashville and I am sure there are a lot of other but these are the ones that come to mind.  If this hemorage of large employers continues and I were the governor,  I would be very concerned. 

As far as Texas is concerned, NashRugger is correct about the property tax there being high, as that is how Texas funds their schools from what I understand.

[tragenvol]

14 hours ago, MLBrumby said:

Good points... and to my comment here, Nashville needs to aggressively pursue those CA companies, but Cooper will not do it. 

The good news is that state ECD is really the power broker when it comes to relocations and recruiting those to Tennessee.

[markhollin]

NBJ with coverage of Oracle's Austin move, and how Nashville might still be in running for an office here:

In addition to its Austin office and its former headquarters in Redwood City, which is south of San Francisco, Oracle has offices in U.S. cities including Santa Monica, California; Seattle; Denver; Orlando, Florida; and Burlington, Massachusetts.

Oracle said it intends to expand that list of office locations, in addition to making the headquarters move.

"We will continue to support major hubs for Oracle around the world, including those in the United States … and we expect to add other locations over time," Oracle said in its filing.

Since at least early 2019, Oracle has been weighing an office hub in Nashville. The company has zeroed in on a piece of the 105-acre River North development site, according to sources, on the East Bank of the Cumberland River across from Germantown and just north of downtown.

More at NBJ here:

https://www.bizjournals.com/nashville/news/2020/12/11/oracle-moves-hq-to-austin-from-california.html

[Binbin98]

On 12/12/2020 at 11:10 AM, markhollin said:

NBJ with coverage of Oracles Austin move, and how Nashville might still be in running for an office here:

In addition to its Austin office and its former headquarters in Redwood City, which is south of San Francisco, Oracle has offices in U.S. cities including Santa Monica, California; Seattle; Denver; Orlando, Florida; and Burlington, Massachusetts.

Oracle said it intends to expand that list of office locations, in addition to making the headquarters move.

"We will continue to support major hubs for Oracle around the world, including those in the United States … and we expect to add other locations over time," Oracle said in its filing.

Since at least early 2019, Oracle has been weighing an office hub in Nashville. The company has zeroed in on a piece of the 105-acre River North development site, according to sources, on the East Bank of the Cumberland River across from Germantown and just north of downtown.

More at NBJ here:

https://www.bizjournals.com/nashville/news/2020/12/11/oracle-moves-hq-to-austin-from-california.html

Whether or not oracle opens an office hub here, I truly believe that Amazon will remain the dominant tech company in Nashville for the foreseeable future. At this point, Amazon is expanding past the two office towers and 5,000 jobs they were originally planning, and I feel that a good portion if not most of the jobs that were originally planned for New York’s HQ2 portion will eventually be moved here over a span of 5-10 years. I think that this was Amazon’s plan all along, but in order to not cause fear of rapid growth and strain on infrastructure they didn’t announce it all at once. 
 

What this has to do with Oracle and other tech companies is that I doubt many of them will be moving to Nashville anytime soon due to Amazon being here, as Amazon tends to shadow over and be hard on any other tech companies based in the locations they settle in (see Seattle). I think Nashville has a way better shot for relocations from New York City and Chicago (see financial and logistics companies), due to the central location, low taxes, better weather and better quality of life than those cities. I feel like Austin and Texas as a whole are way more competitive for Californian companies relocating due to them being closer geographically and having many of the same amenities Nashville has to offer. These are just my two cents on this issue as I haven’t been on this forum in awhile.

[smeagolsfree]

Oracle registers Metro lobbyist for economic development and permitting

Oracle Corp. registers Metro lobbyist in pursuit of Nashville office campus on East Bank - Nashville Business Journal (bizjournals.com)

A San Francisco-based lawyer representing Oracle Corp. (NYSE: ORCL) filed paperwork with Metro on Dec. 1 on behalf of Merissa Khachigian. Her LinkedIn page says Khachigian has served as Oracle's director of state government affairs for more than a decade.

Khachigian will lobby Metro on the subjects of economic development, permitting, "tax issues" and "land use issues," according to paperwork that the Business Journal obtained via a records request.

[nashvylle]

@smeagolsfree is this a sign that Cooper has tried to stop it, and Oracle is resorting to a lobbyist, or do you think it's just standard practice?

[smeagolsfree]

I think this is a sign that Oracle is pulling a big boy lawyer or in this case a big girl lawyer in from San Franciso to dot the i's and cross the t's and get the best possible deal they can get. They would not be spending the money hiring a lobbyist if they were not planning a campus.

I am unsure how all this works but by law they have to register as a Lobbyist. My guess they may be doing the same thing on the State level as well.

Here is the Metro regulation about lobbyists https://www.nashville.gov/Metro-Clerk/Lobbyist.aspx

https://library.municode.com/tn/metro_government_of_nashville_and_davidson_county/codes/code_of_ordinances?nodeId=CD_TIT2AD_DIVVIOTPRPO_CH2.196LOREDI

 

[smeagolsfree]

If you look Here Metro Nashville Clerk 2020 Registered Lobbyists Indexed by Company it is not uncommon for companies to register as lobbyist.

[nashvylle]

So we can assume Oracle hiring a lobbyist is a good sign. As you said, Oracle wouldn't hire a lobbyist if they did not plan on a campus here. 

[titanhog]

5 hours ago, smeagolsfree said:

Oracle registers Metro lobbyist for economic development and permitting

Oracle Corp. registers Metro lobbyist in pursuit of Nashville office campus on East Bank - Nashville Business Journal (bizjournals.com)

A San Francisco-based lawyer representing Oracle Corp. (NYSE: ORCL) filed paperwork with Metro on Dec. 1 on behalf of Merissa Khachigian. Her LinkedIn page says Khachigian has served as Oracle's director of state government affairs for more than a decade.

Khachigian will lobby Metro on the subjects of economic development, permitting, "tax issues" and "land use issues," according to paperwork that the Business Journal obtained via a records request.

[MidTenn1]

I remember during the Amazon HQ2 competition, bloggers from several cities, including Atlanta, got excited when Amazon registered lobbyists in their states. They thought it was a strong sign HQ2 was coming to their particular fair city.  It was probably standard operating procedure for doing some other business, since some of these cities were never in the hunt.

Having said that, Oracle is not Amazon, so this news is encouraging IMHO.

[DDIG]

23 hours ago, nashvylle said:

@smeagolsfree is this a sign that Cooper has tried to stop it, and Oracle is resorting to a lobbyist, or do you think it's just standard practice?

There's no point in hiring a lobbyist to turn Cooper around. I think it is a sign they are moving towards a next phase.

[nashvylle]

18 minutes ago, DDIG said:

There's no point in hiring a lobbyist to turn Cooper around. I think it is a sign they are moving towards a next phase.

what do you mean by "next phase"... what would that entail?