HOUTEX

Au contraire.... (from the Midway East River materials on their website) I've been in lots of re-purposed warehouses. They've got their own issues no doubt, but make for a much more interesting building that throwing something brand new up (usually in beige stucco it seems...) The KBR thread linked above points out that the Greater East End Management District has already got a FTA-approve street car loop proposed for the area, connecting the site with the light rail stations. Seems like that would cut down the time to implement a "mass transit" system without the detractors of light rail.

Amen to that. It fundamentally no sense as anything other than an entertainment venue (stadium, park or otherwise).

double post

Interesting perspective. 800 Bell is downtown in one of the largest and most cosmopolitan cities in North America. It makes tons of sense if paired with Post HTX and could radically transform downtown, albeit the limitation is that land is $300+ PSF. Would you guess that the second highest concentration of engineers in the country is in Houston? STEM jobs and degrees are on the rise here. East River is going to be directly connected to Buffalo Bayou Park and miles and miles of hike and bike trails. The East End never flooded during Harvey and neither did East River (reportedly). I doubt there's another single-owned urban infill site of its size in the country. Houston is a relatively young city, and in the next 20-30 years downtown is going to spill outside of today's geographic boundaries of the Pierce Elevated and I-69. The shoulder neighborhoods - EaDo, the East End, Midtown, East River, and parts of Montrose and east Washington Ave - are all going to be absorbed by the Greater Downtown market. For a company making long term plans, it makes perfect sense to go long on the 4th largest American MSA in an environ that next to (but well cost of) downtown land.

It's interesting to see all of the cities putting their best foot forward in this "glass slipper" competition. Philly, Dallas, Denver, Boston, Brooklyn, Burmingham(?!), Canadian MSA's and even the west coast are fiercely fighting for this. Houston seems muted in the press, like it doesn't care. I remember when CenterPoint (formerly Houston Lighting & Power) used to be the main entity that pitched corporate relocations on moving to Houston. Their main pitch: cheap electricity. Seriously, they would flaunt cheap energy and cost of living and go after big industrial co's -- Growth is growth...pollution, environment, and quality of life be damned. I wish this city would quit thinking small and go after the bull with both hands.

The suburban campuses in Dallas (or anywhere for that matter) won't be desirable for Amazon in comparison to an urban setting, especially if you mean Las Colinas. I worked out there in the last couple of years and its still a wasteland between two cities. The Cedars south of Downtown Dallas, or the land fronting the Trinity River could be appealing. Houston has a better shot with the East River (old KBR) campus. It's larger than they need (100 acres desired vs. 150 available), and relative to the Houston CBD, is about as far as their campus in South Lake Union is from Downtown Seattle. Lacks fixed rail mass transit, but would be easier to fix than any other location in Dallas.

Some opinions aren't surprising, if a little disappointing. It never ceases to amaze the complacency that the status quo can create. But moving on... in reading the RFP and a couple of articles it would seem like workforce availability, deal economics and ability to meet their schedule are the biggest deciders. If you just look at the percentage of the Houston workforce that's college educated or in a STEM field we lose pretty quickly to a lot of cities, but in terms of overall headcount working in STEM fields Houston ranks 7th nationally, and 4th if other west coast cities are ignored (I don't think they'll bother with another office in the same time zone). First place goes to NYC, then Washington DC and third Chicago. Dallas, Atlanta and Boston round out the next three after Houston. I don't know where you find 100+ acres in New York, so that means you're looking at inhabiting existing buildings or new construction in a heavily heavily regulated city. Timing and economics become a concern. Washington DC has a similar set of concerns, especially considering height restrictions. Chicago could be an interesting option and appears to check most boxes, but the rust belt doesn't feel like the right culture for this company. Cost of living makes a big difference here...for a global company workforce is just a payroll liability and all things equal the talent pool is cheaper outside of the coastal markets. In my opinion the top options after filtering for size of overall STEM occupation headcount (not percentages), regional availability of labor, cost of living, etc. make Houston, Dallas, Atlanta and Boston the most interesting case studies. Denver and Austin have a higher % of the workforce in STEM jobs, but they're 1/2 and 1/3 the size of Houston's employment base, respectively. Flooding concern is a fleeting issue. Land prices will be a bigger concern.

True enough. Any one of the above East End streetcar routes could be essentially funded entirely out of Amazon allowances for worker transit benefits. They paid something like $43M into Seattles public transit system in worker benefits.

Amazon is looking for a site for their second campus. Criteria are >100 acres, cities with diverse populations greater than 1M, high quality universities and highly educated populace, business friendly political climate and access to international airports within 45 minutes. Check, check, check and check. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/07/technology/amazon-headquarters-north-america.html Would be awesome for this part of town.