Amazon New HQ (50k jobs), MA? (Boston, Lowell: real estate, home equity, house prices)

[bugelrex]

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-a...-idUSKCN1BI1DM

MA ticks all the boxes except for affordable housing. I could see a large campus 10-15 miles from downtown Boston to meet the 45 minute to airport criteria.

MA should put aside its NIMBYsm and aggressively lobby for these high paying jobs..

[jayyz]

Amazon already has an office in Massachusetts. No point in throwing money at the rich. Use that money to fix the MBTA or build more affordable housing. Should all corporations get a tax incentive to stay here or move here? Hell no.

[BostonMike7]

The affordability will kill any such bid. Amazon wants cheaper than Seattle, which might cross MA off that list.


However, part of attracting top talent involves setting up shop in an attractive area to live in.

[bugelrex]

Originally Posted by jayyz

Amazon already has an office in Massachusetts. No point in throwing money at the rich. Use that money to fix the MBTA or build more affordable housing. Should all corporations get a tax incentive to stay here or move here? Hell no.

tens of thousands of software engineers have the potential to build MA into a real silicon valley over the next 15 years. As engineers slowly quit Amazon and get funding for new ideas, they will create new companies here. I think its worth giving away the farm for this potential.

[Whatsnext75]

So we want boston to be the next silicon valley?

[Partial Observer]

Originally Posted by Whatsnext75

So we want boston to be the next silicon valley?

Of course you do. The people on this forum who live inside I-495 would sell what's left of their souls for that bump in home equity.

[yellowstatus]

Boston is definitely a strong contender with a unique mix of talented workforce and strong academic institutions. Real estate is also relatively affordable, only slightly more than Seattle and substantially cheaper than San Francisco.

A big complication with Boston is that building out commercial space for 50k headcount would be exceptionally difficult. It would be a comparable in scale to re-developing Kendall Square. Relocating from SF to Boston recently, I was struck by Boston's relatively low urban population density. I don't know if there's the political will to radically re-zone to allow higher density development.

[bugelrex]

Originally Posted by Partial Observer

Of course you do. The people on this forum who live inside I-495 would sell what's left of their souls for that bump in home equity.

such an announcement would cause an instant 5% jump in house prices for any home with a reasonable commute to the HQ before any office is even built. 50,000 high paying workers bidding up houses would cause a 30% jump over the next 5 years.

Good or bad, depending on which side you are on.

I would guess they would rather pick an MA suburb which is currently still affordable but with 45 mins of logan airport.. is there such a suburb?

[rethcir]

Boston is already one of the top 3-5 biggest technology economies in the nation. A good technologist in Boston does not go unemployed right now. Amazon also has a reputation as kind of a bad place to work (long hours, burnouts, salaries cap out below industry standards). Anecdotally I hear a lot of people go there, work there for a couple years to get it on their resume, and then go join a startup for better salary and quality of life. I wouldn't leave my job to go work there.

Also, as mentioned, I don't think they could build a campus in a good enough location. If it was the 90's I could see them going to Burlington/Bedford or Lowell (see the ex Sun or Wang campuses up there), but I don't think a company that can pick and choose would locate outside the urban area/public transit in today's day and age. It's not attractive to the young workforce.

My bet is that they head to the Raleigh-Durham Triangle.

[Whatsnext75]

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