I agree that ATL would have been less appealing than other Eastern Time Zone cities with a single HQ, but now that they’ve decided to apparently split operations between 2 cities, I wonder what happened. I suspect the Georgia legislature might have mucked that one up with its decision to punish companies that don’t march in lock step with the NRA. And I’m not saying that just because my politics are left of center: it’s bad when a legislature punishes a company for trying to AVOID politics (of all things). Amazon took one look at the neo-confederate shit show and said “No thanks”…which is probably why any Southern city and any Trump-leaning city is out of the running.
I’ve been thinking of buying a house…eventually. A bunch more people moving here is not going to make that easier.
Pardon my ignorance, but illegal to build homes?
zoning laws wont let you build housing near commercial/industrial centers anymore
Actually mixed used developments are popular in a lot of places.
In many places, especially more desirable places, it’s extremely hard (basically impossible) to get land rezoned for denser housing. If it’s zoned for single-family houses on quarter-acre lots, it will have single-family houses on quarter-acre lots forever, even if it’s right next to a subway station and could easily support 10x as many people.
If I was capable of doing cartwheels, I’d be cartwheeling down the street right now. Amazon choosing Long Island City for their HQ has been a fantasy of mine. And I thought it was a complete and total longshot until this morning.
Why? Because I own a condo in Long Island City. And I’m retiring in 2-4 years, depending on how long I can keep my business profitable. I haven’t decided whether to sell the place outright or renovate it and sublet for a few years first while the value increases. But it looks like the value of my largest fiscal asset is going to increase greatly soon.
Assuming this rumor is true. I sort of feel like I just won the lottery. Not the big jackpot, but a sizable sum.
I’m sure that’s true of the areas around Long Island City and Arlington; single-family homes on quarter-acre (or larger!) lots for miles around.
Seriously, have you ever been to these places, or even looked at them on Google Maps?
The LIC area is pretty much all zoned for multi-family housing (R5-R7), although the size and density allowed varies block to block and the formulas are rather complex. And the zoning us not written in stone, it is constantly changing, But it’s in a part of Queens that is very close to Manhattan and the neighborhood has a very urban feel.
There are single family homes that have been there a long time but if they are freestanding on their own lot they are generally eventually replaced with small apartment buildings. There is a single family home on my street that is on the market for 3 million. The real estate listing doesn’t even describe the existing structure, it’s all about the zoning and how large you are allowed to build.
Which, politically, is a shame. Georgia is somewhat purple, and a big Amazon influx might have tipped critical races to blue. Amazon constituents might even have lobbied fro things like paper ballots…
Oh well.
I was just giving an example of a type of zone. Whatever it is, it’s not changing fast enough, pretty much anywhere in the USA where people want to live.
Anyways, Crystal City does in fact abut a large swathe of single-family neighborhoods, and I’m pretty sure 90%+ of that area will look the same in fifty years, even if the population of the metro area doubles. There will be one or two new buildings added, over massive local resistance, but it won’t be enough.
I’m more familiar with Queens than I am with Crystal City, but the Wikipedia article on the latter says, “Characterized as one of many ‘urban villages’ by Arlington County, Crystal City is almost exclusively populated by high-rise apartment buildings, corporate offices, hotels, and numerous shops and restaurants.” The article also says, “Before development by the Charles E. Smith Co., the area was mostly composed of industrial sites, junkyards, and low-rent motels.”
No mention of single-family neighborhoods.
Crystal City is a fairly small area, basically entirely office buildings. But basically two-three blocks away are a couple of huge apartment buildings, and then immediately beyond those are a lot of single family homes.
See for example:
ETA: If you look at the article, Crystal City is basically where the “HWY” is on Jefferson Davis Hwy. God, I hope that name changes soon.
Sure, Cheetolini plans to change it to ‘President Jefferson Davis Hwy’ in September 2020.
I’ve gone past Crystal City on the DC Metro scores of times. It looks from the Metro like a giant office park. It also looks like an incredibly convenient location, between the airport and downtown, with a handy subway stop. If there’s room to put the thing there, and if there’s room for workers to live there, it seems like a terrific location.
Why would the employees need to live there? They’re not building a company town. From what I know of that location, it would give the employees the choice between an urban or suburban lifestyle, which is ideal.
All in all, a meek and predictable decision that makes the entire announcement and process seem to be a sham.
I meant, room withinga reasonable commute. I don’t know how built up the area is.
Slashdot has a link to this story:
Amazon’s HQ2 was a con, not a contest.
In short: the whole “searching for a location for HQ2” was a game to get concessions for the two locations already chosen. Bezos already has homes near the two “winners” (plus near HQ1): “… and the average distance from those three homes to a headquarters is 6.4 miles.”
And apparently no one here speculated along these lines.
It’s very sad to see companies making decisions based on what’s convenient for the CEO. E.g., Boeing several years ago moved its HQ from Seattle to Chicago because that’s where the new CEO lived. So a large number of execs either had to move or quit. Egad, what a complete waste.
Wait, what?
Posts 9, 31, 35, 37, 59, and 87 have speculated and/or stated that this is one big-assed con. Who was that erudite sage who wrote those oh-so-prescient posts? 
I also note the same guy picked DC/NYC as his #1 and #2 most likely locations. Oh, so full of wisdom was he! 