Amazon drops New York for HQ2

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Brian Lutz
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Amazon drops New York for HQ2

Post by Brian Lutz »

https://komonews.com/news/nation-world/ ... s-location

Amazon is abandoning plans to put part of their HQ2 expansion in New York, citing political hostility as the primary reason for doing so.
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Re: Amazon drops New York for HQ2

Post by storewanderer »

It sounds like they will still be doing the hiring, but it will be in a couple other locations instead.

It seems like Amazon will save a lot of money by just doing these positions in different locations.
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Re: Amazon drops New York for HQ2

Post by Brian Lutz »

Amazon is also abandoning plans to occupy 722,000 square feet of office space under construction in Downtown Seattle, opting instead to sublease it:

https://komonews.com/news/local/is-amaz ... ier-square

This seems to be a direct result of the "Head Tax" of $275 per employee per year that Seattle tried to impose on large companies. The head tax was repealed eventually (largely as a result of Amazon's threats to back out on this expansion), and it is highly unlikely that Amazon could move out of Seattle anytime soon, but it seems like they are far less inclined to expand there than they used to be.
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Re: Amazon drops New York for HQ2

Post by marshd1000 »

Brian Lutz wrote: February 27th, 2019, 2:25 pm Amazon is also abandoning plans to occupy 722,000 square feet of office space under construction in Downtown Seattle, opting instead to sublease it:

https://komonews.com/news/local/is-amaz ... ier-square

This seems to be a direct result of the "Head Tax" of $275 per employee per year that Seattle tried to impose on large companies. The head tax was repealed eventually (largely as a result of Amazon's threats to back out on this expansion), and it is highly unlikely that Amazon could move out of Seattle anytime soon, but it seems like they are far less inclined to expand there than they used to be.
.

With the fact that Seattle City Council Members, Lisa Herbold and Teresa Mosqueda went to New York to warn against Amazon, and spread their contagion, it’s no wonder that Amazon still put the brakes on this project. A good hunk of Seattle City government sees profitable business as evil and wants to punish them for being successful and tax them to the hilt! I lived most of my life in West Seattle. Seattle government is ruining the city! I’m glad I live in the suburbs now! Sorry to get political! But I don’t blame Amazon one iota for not occupying Rainier Square! I know Renton, Bellevue and other nearby cities would welcome them!
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Re: Amazon drops New York for HQ2

Post by storewanderer »

marshd1000 wrote: February 27th, 2019, 4:43 pm
Brian Lutz wrote: February 27th, 2019, 2:25 pm Amazon is also abandoning plans to occupy 722,000 square feet of office space under construction in Downtown Seattle, opting instead to sublease it:

https://komonews.com/news/local/is-amaz ... ier-square

This seems to be a direct result of the "Head Tax" of $275 per employee per year that Seattle tried to impose on large companies. The head tax was repealed eventually (largely as a result of Amazon's threats to back out on this expansion), and it is highly unlikely that Amazon could move out of Seattle anytime soon, but it seems like they are far less inclined to expand there than they used to be.
.

With the fact that Seattle City Council Members, Lisa Herbold and Teresa Mosqueda went to New York to warn against Amazon, and spread their contagion, it’s no wonder that Amazon still put the brakes on this project. A good hunk of Seattle City government sees profitable business as evil and wants to punish them for being successful and tax them to the hilt! I lived most of my life in West Seattle. Seattle government is ruining the city! I’m glad I live in the suburbs now! Sorry to get political! But I don’t blame Amazon one iota for not occupying Rainier Square! I know Renton, Bellevue and other nearby cities would welcome them!
I am however starting to wonder if Amazon "overpromised" to Seattle and New York exactly how many thousands more workers they need to add in the next few years...

I don't think it would be that hard for Amazon to move its employees out of Seattle and into a suburb or two. Dead retail space can easily be demolished and throw up some multi-story office buildings in place. Put a nice parking garage on the former ugly flat oversized parking lot that is connected via covered walkway to the buildings and you have a great arrangement.
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Re: Amazon drops New York for HQ2

Post by marshd1000 »

In Renton, we have new buildings at the Southport development. Plus it would be a fun twist of fate if Amazon bought the abandoned Sam’s Club here!
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Re: Amazon drops New York for HQ2

Post by Brian Lutz »

Most of the rumors have Amazon leasing significant space in Downtown Bellevue and expanding there, but I could see Renton, Tacoma and possibly Federal Way looking to attract some of that growth (Weyerhauser recently moved out of their old Federal Way campus and into a new headquarters in Pioneer Square, and the new owners are looking for tenants for the space.) I think they would be hard pressed to abandon their South Lake Union campus though, but given the current Seattle city government's hostility I suspect they would have to be at least making contingency plans.
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Re: Amazon drops New York for HQ2

Post by Brian Lutz »

And Amazon continues to retreat from Seattle:

https://www.geekwire.com/2019/exclusive ... arby-city/

The Global Operations team (which oversees fulfillment centers) is being moved from Seattle to Bellevue, with the move expected to be completed by 2023. They will be moving to Expedia's current building (for their part Expedia is moving to the Queen Anne area of Seattle) as well as two other buildings currently under construction.
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