Maybe I don't fully understand what Amazon hopes to accomplish with an HQ2 (In fact, I surely don't), but I just don't understand why Denver would make a whole lot of sense from a strictly geographic basis.
I guess when I look at the map, St. Louis is closer to Denver than Denver is to Seattle, but I just don't know why they'd bother to move one time zone over for another new-ish, trendy city.
It's based on very little, but I think they're going at least far enough east to be in the central time zone.
If Amazon is already starting to see resistance in recruiting to Seattle due to the high cost of living how does opening in Denver Chicago or on the coast help in that regard?
If Amazon is already starting to see resistance in recruiting to Seattle due to the high cost of living how does opening in Denver Chicago or on the coast help in that regard?
Yup, it doesn't. Our COL (and thus lower payroll expenses) may be our strongest selling point.
If Amazon is already starting to see resistance in recruiting to Seattle due to the high cost of living how does opening in Denver Chicago or on the coast help in that regard?
Yup, it doesn't. Our COL (and thus lower payroll expenses) may be our strongest selling point.
St. Louis and STL with no hurricanes, mild winters getting milder, on the fringe of hurricane alley & AC pretty much making hot muggy weather moot must be one of the most weather friendly area to do businesses as well. Houston literally shutdown for more then a week, they closed Miami early and now looks like they should have closed Tampa down instead. STL has huge runway capacity and probably one of the least impacted airports due to weather with the connections
I did slight comparisons today. Biggest points for St. Louis will be Transit, Airport, Cost of Living, Research Institutions, and Available property. Obviously I'm a little bias, but Stl has a much better chance than our direct competitors (Nash, KC, Indy, Cincy). I think we'll be the dark horse of the final five.
Hmmm folks in Kansas City think St.Louis shouldn't even make a bid they believe Kansas City is the better city heres where i step in and say no you aren't! What does Kansas City have that St.Louis doesn't have. If your response is the same ole tacky tactics that the crimes horrible its too ghetto and its lost population for over half a century then go right ahead cause i can still say we may be that but we still have 8 fortunate 500s a light rail a better suited airport a better inland port a better interstate system. On top of that we have the best zoo the best urban park still well connected neighborhoods a appealing urban experience great universities the the most beautiful monument on the planet also Downtown is back on the upswing.
If i had an opinion St.Louis is probably the most underrated city in this country and amazon could make much more of a difference here than any of those cities that are on the list including Kansas City.
St.Louis doesn't take up over 300 sq miles in 3-4 different counties its a compact city.
All I'm saying if all folks in Kansas City have to say is how crime ridden St.Louis is sorry to tell you this! Kansas City isn't too far behind.
Just tired of people in Kansas City attacking St.Louis.
Out of curiosity, where are you seeing this? I've searched all KC forums (kcrag,/r/kansascity, citydata) and I can't seem to find extensive STL bashing. Not that I'm off to fight, but I'm always interested to see their far flung opinions.
Here is the ranking of Full Metro Crime index using FBI Table 6 from their latest numbers (2015) and created using the same index calculation method used by moving.com (owned by National Association of Realtors) to rate safest places.
My couch potato game plan for Amazon plays on two things - An under utilized urban core well connected (think metrolink) & tradition of food that created a plant science center of the world.
First, metrolink touches an undeveloped downtown, central corridor with a huge potential and direct access to ready made airport hub for which the largest domestic carrier in US/North America is a focus city. Second, the future is food and Amazon just made a big push to be a part of it with Whole Foods acquisition. St Louis is world known plant science center as well some name brands in Post and Nestle.
So my proposal breaks down as this
City Garden Site (The Present) - Anchored by ATT tower with immediate space available nearby in Railway Exchage, Space in Met. Instant square footage for several thousand worker, the infrastructure, metrolink at its front door & City Garden. It is part of the Loft District and has the Convention Center with the hotel capacity and more coming to support. For good measure I would the fact that Twain sculpture will go for an expanded city garden, or a tower/parking as well as note that the second Bank of American tower was never built on the other side of City Garden. Yes, I would absolutely positively give up part of the mall to land Amazon.
BPV/Chouteau Lake (The Vision) - A clean slate of surface parking lots for signature development & vision in an unique tough urban environment already well connected to transit, Arch views, hotels, entertainment connected and not too mention the vision will connect with Nestle/Purina Campus & one of the great consumer markets, our pets. Embrace the region as connecting the east & west by its rivers & greenways with a new vision for Chouteau Lake. Throw in Cupples X, Muni Courts buildings and the property east of Busch all ready to be developed. Finally, the location is a few short steps away from Peabody theater/Scottrade and possibly three pro sports with MLS. As Moorlander noted, already some great renderings to work with in this area whether it BPV or Chouteau Lake. Just need to brush off and update.
The Plant Science District (A Future) - Finally, tie Amazon to the future of food and plant science with a future campus site in the middle of the Dansforth Campus that as desired by the county would be connected to metrolink with Westport to the west and Clayton CBD/Central Corridor/Downtown to the east.
I think the demo and build where the Kiener garages are could be a good start, also, if AT&T was incorporated. We would finally get those eyesores out of the way. Would make a bold statement on Downtown, with close access to RX, and more.
Did some investigating this weekend. Here's what I have compiled about the STL bid:
1. Sheila Sweeney and the STL Partnership are leading the team. Krewson and Stenger are also high up.
2. Everyone is at the table. From St. Charles to St. Clair, Jefferson to Madison. Even Franklin County. Everyone is working as one to help collaborate to try and land this.
3. All counties are providing a site for the bid. St. Clair is not submitting its own bid. The people I have spoken with and emailed regarding this were annoyed by the BND story. They said they have received 'salvos' of calls from people demanding them to work with STL. They are and always have been.
4. The State Development office is already finalizing a massive incentive package on the state end. They are doing specific packages I believe for St. Louis and Kansas City. From my info requests, the package is significantly higher than what MO was going to offer Boeing. Obviously, they would not give me the numbers. The STL Region will be putting together an incentive package of our own to give in addition to the State's.
5. Gov Greitens is apparently working very closely with the STL bid.
Some info I received about the Kansas City bid:
1. Final stages of putting the team together.
2. Working with MO and KS.
Nashville:
1. In process of site selection. Will only submit one site.
2. Everyone is at the table. From St. Charles to St. Clair, Jefferson to Madison. Even Franklin County. Everyone is working as one to help collaborate to try and land this.
3. All counties are providing a site for the bid. St. Clair is not submitting its own bid.
Maybe I don't get it, but why would Amazon pick anywhere in Jefferson, St. Charles, Franklin or Madison county? Don't they require a lot of amenities that are obviously lacking there? Why not just put all of our heads together and pick the location that makes the most sense (IE, St. Louis City).
Am I wrong in thinking that a bunch of large and/or tall skyscrapers in an urban campus doesn't exactly blend in with the rest of the options? They also have limited access to mass/public transportation. Clayton would be the second option for me, though, like others have said, I don't know where they would even fit that. Thanks for getting some of this information together! Please clarify if I'm confused.
I wonder if submitting a site for the bid automatically means they all make the cut for the final bid. It may not.
In any case, I doubt as if Amazon dings St. Louis for offering too many sites. They'll surely be able to identify the best ones and go from there. So if playing nice with the outlying counties by letting them submits sites is what it takes to get the full region to work as one, I think that's a reasonable concession to make.
2. Everyone is at the table. From St. Charles to St. Clair, Jefferson to Madison. Even Franklin County. Everyone is working as one to help collaborate to try and land this.
3. All counties are providing a site for the bid. St. Clair is not submitting its own bid.
Maybe I don't get it, but why would Amazon pick anywhere in Jefferson, St. Charles, Franklin or Madison county? Don't they require a lot of amenities that are obviously lacking there? Why not just put all of our heads together and pick the location that makes the most sense (IE, St. Louis City).
Am I wrong in thinking that a bunch of large and/or tall skyscrapers in an urban campus doesn't exactly blend in with the rest of the options? They also have limited access to mass/public transportation. Clayton would be the second option for me, though, like others have said, I don't know where they would even fit that. Thanks for getting some of this information together! Please clarify if I'm confused.
Willing to bet it is so Amazon can select the best one. If there is a 90% chance of them selecting one in the city, and a 10% chance of them selecting one in the burbs/rural areas, why not submit both?
To me it looks great, this is exactly what they should be doing. Give Amazon options and say, whatever is best for you, we will make it work.
2. Everyone is at the table. From St. Charles to St. Clair, Jefferson to Madison. Even Franklin County. Everyone is working as one to help collaborate to try and land this.
3. All counties are providing a site for the bid. St. Clair is not submitting its own bid.
Maybe I don't get it, but why would Amazon pick anywhere in Jefferson, St. Charles, Franklin or Madison county? Don't they require a lot of amenities that are obviously lacking there? Why not just put all of our heads together and pick the location that makes the most sense (IE, St. Louis City).
Am I wrong in thinking that a bunch of large and/or tall skyscrapers in an urban campus doesn't exactly blend in with the rest of the options? They also have limited access to mass/public transportation. Clayton would be the second option for me, though, like others have said, I don't know where they would even fit that. Thanks for getting some of this information together! Please clarify if I'm confused.
I am assuming the other counties only agreed to go in together if they had sites also. It doesn't hurt anything to include them even if they aren't likely to be picked. Might as well give Amazon a variety of options. I doubt anything outside of St Louis City or County would actually be picked. St. Charles probably at least has a small shot but I also doubt it is picked either. St. Clair does have metrolink though, but is getting far from the airport.
Interesting on the timing but Biz Journal article on Chouteau's landing. Behind pay wall so not sure what details article has to offer
But the site does tie in nicely for a future Amazon campus with an expanded south downtown footprint that encompasses BPV/Cupples/metrolink/Nestle and future Chouteau Lake greenway with Arch Grounds.
I wonder if submitting a site for the bid automatically means they all make the cut for the final bid. It may not.
In any case, I doubt as if Amazon dings St. Louis for offering too many sites. They'll surely be able to identify the best ones and go from there. So if playing nice with the outlying counties by letting them submits sites is what it takes to get the full region to work as one, I think that's a reasonable concession to make.
Not sure. Just seems like needless dilution of the pool in vain attempt IMO. It's like sending in a resume and cover letter for a position you have no qualifications for. Why waste the time?
Interesting on the timing but Biz Journal article on Chouteau's landing. Behind pay wall so not sure what details article has to offer
But the site does tie in nicely for a future Amazon campus with an expanded south downtown footprint that encompasses BPV/Cupples/metrolink/Nestle and future Chouteau Lake greenway with Arch Grounds.
Definitely interesting. If nothing else, puts it in play for someone else to save some of the Crunden complex and others. Too bad Powell Square is gone now. Also, is it realistic to remove the flood wall from here? Or at least allow an opening similar to Laclede's Landing? I thought the only way to get to the riverfront was from the entrance at Chouteau and LKS, and then it's like 1/2 a mile of straight wall without interruption.
I wonder if submitting a site for the bid automatically means they all make the cut for the final bid. It may not.
In any case, I doubt as if Amazon dings St. Louis for offering too many sites. They'll surely be able to identify the best ones and go from there. So if playing nice with the outlying counties by letting them submits sites is what it takes to get the full region to work as one, I think that's a reasonable concession to make.
Not sure. Just seems like needless dilution of the pool in vain attempt IMO. It's like sending in a resume and cover letter for a position you have no qualifications for. Why waste the time?
If you listen to the interview vpr611 posted above, Sweeney seems to imply that the final list of sites will be down to just a couple perhaps. So, maybe this won't be an issue anyways.
If you listen to the interview vpr611 posted above, Sweeney seems to imply that the final list of sites will be down to just a couple perhaps. So, maybe this won't be an issue anyways.
A couple might be okay. It is wise to narrow down the list before presenting it to Amazon as too many options may not be perceived well. It would seem like there is infighting, or at least a lack of unity, within the region.
