https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2018-01-19/amazon-is-sure-acting-like-it-s-going-to-pick-the-d-c-area?utm_content=view&utm_campaign=socialflow-organic&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&cmpid%3D=socialflow-twitter-view
As I'm sure you're aware, Amazon founder and Chief Executive Officer Jeff Bezos already owns a
major media company based in Washington. He
paid $23 million in October 2016 for the biggest house in town.
1 Amazon Web Services, the company's fast-growing (and consistently profitable, unlike the rest of the business) cloud-computing division, went public last summer with plans to
open its East Coast corporate campus in Northern Virginia, where it has major data center operations and is
reportedly in the market for 2 million square feet more. Oh, and Northern Virginia is already home to the nation's, and probably the world's,
biggest concentration of cloud-computing infrastructure.
More generally, the Washington metropolitan area is the nation's
sixth most populous (fourth, if you go by the
combined statistical area, which includes Baltimore) and ranks among the nation's top three "tech cities,"
according to real estate services firm Cushman and Wakefield Inc., with an ample supply of the skilled workers Amazon will need. Finally, we live in an age in which decisions made in Washington may end up being of existential importance
for tech titans with a tendency toward monopoly. Sure seems like a good idea to have a big presence in the neighborhood.
https://www.cnn.com/2018/01/20/opinions/amazon-headquarters-competition-disturbing-richard-florida-opinion/index.html
At the top of the list, I would place New York, the greatest headquarters city in the world, and DC, the world's power corridor. When I asked Scott Galloway, the author of the book "The Four," where he thought Amazon would place its new headquarters, he simply said: New York, New York, and New York. But, DC is perhaps an equal or even better contender. Because Jeff Bezos already owns The Washington Post, an additional
50,000 Amazon jobs in the DC area might help deflect Congressional attention from his company's monopolistic tendencies. Not to mention, a key predictor of corporate headquarters location is where the CEO has a home. Bezos has homes in DC, Manhattan, and Beverly Hills, which might also explain LA's inclusion on the list.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/their-eyes-are-on-dc-capital-area-said-to-have-good-shot-at-amazon-hq2/2018/01/20/27a92898-fd37-11e7-8f66-2df0b94bb98a_story.html?utm_term=.672dbff5f8e1
Montgomery County and Northern Virginia have not publicly divulged the sites, for fear of hurting their competitive position. But local officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity, identified some of the locations. Montgomery, they said, has proposed two Maryland sites: White Flint and another nearby in North Bethesda. Both enjoy support from the state and county.
Sites proposed in Northern Virginia, the officials said, which also are said to enjoy state support, include:
• A plot near Dulles International Airport occupied by the Center for Innovative Technology and supported jointly by Fairfax and Loudoun counties.
• A site in the Crystal City/Potomac Yard area, backed by Arlington and Alexandria.
• Two sites in Prince William County — Potomac Shores in the eastern part of the county and Innovation Park in the western part.
The District has publicly identified
four sites: Anacostia Riverfront, NoMa-Union Station, Hill East and Shaw-Howard University.
Some observers said the Washington region should have agreed jointly on a single site and offered it. A unified pitch would be stronger, and everybody in the area benefits no matter who gets the prize.
The Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments studied the possibility of a joint regional proposal in September, but the area jurisdictions quickly decided to go their own ways.
One obstacle: The District, Virginia and Maryland would have found it difficult, if not impossible, to offer subsidies for a project to be built outside their jurisdictions.
Amazon’s inclusion of three locations in the Washington area fueled speculation that the company has the region at the top of its list and wants to pit the three sites against each other in offering financial breaks.
“This is a textbook example of how to wrangle incentives,” Florida said.
There were signs that the region’s governments were prepared to succumb to the temptation. Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) disclosed Thursday that Maryland’s inducements to lure Amazon totaled more than $5 billion. The offer, which Hogan was to describe in detail on Monday, includes tax incentives and transportation improvements.
