I believe that DTR is the top choice if they choose NC, but it’s anyone’s guess which city will win. I’d still be shocked if they actually pick Raleigh, but happy if they do now that it’s not gonna just be a congestion nightmare for it to be set up in RTP. Downtown would actually really benefit.
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That’s how I read it too. Amazon would rather in downtown than in a place like RTP.
Interesting. The evening news broadcast last night made it sound like Raleigh was leading. Definitely some mixed messages out there.
There are studies and predictions but what has Amazon actually announced? As far as we know it’s still just the list of 20 cities.
Anything else is just speculation and banter, which I love to a certain extent, but let’s not take it too seriously. This is exactly what Amazon wanted, to create a media frenzy. The local news is playing right into it.
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Agreed. I also think they’d be wise to narrow the list in several stages. With every “round,” the surviving cities will likely sweeten their incentive packages even more.
The government agencies are playing into also. We have no idea the potentially billions of taxpayer dollars our politicans and civic leaders have promised these companies that in no way need them. To me, that’s the biggest cause for concern.
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Leo is right. The media has been blowing this up for months. The news will be when they make a decision.
As far as the tax dollars, I kind of agree in principle. But I’m so jaded about the way the government spends money, I’m always happy when some tiny amount of my taxes actually go to something that directly benefits me. Greenways, parks, road and sidewalk improvements, big companies with skyscrapers and jobs. Usually it just goes to killing people in other countries, paying other countries, poor people, and pensions for government workers. I see the need for some of that, but I always like it when I get some tangible benefit.
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I’d rather my taxes go towards helping poor people than corporations, for your neighbors and fellow residents.
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As much as I dislike this overuse (in my opinion) of incentives I feel like it’s here to stay, probably for awhile. When reading about the topic, someone mentioned this to be a prisoner’s dilemma and I couldn’t agree more that this is exactly what’s happening between the states.
What might have to happen to break this cycle is for politicians to seriously screw over their states before people realize these were bad investments in the first place.
For me, as others have said, let’s invest in people and grow our own local companies. I want to see 100 companies in Raleigh with 500 people each rather than a 50,000 person juggernaut.
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I live right on the other side of 40 down Lake Wheeler Rd. This split level and brick ranch 60’s/70’s neighborhood (Pleasant Ridge Estates) is quickly escalating in number of renovations and values are rising fast. I think I’ve landed in one of the next ITB (though not technically) fixer-upper old neighborhoods, and if a Amazon or something similar lands downtown I would predict insane gentrification in all the surrounding neighborhoods South of DTR and in Garner. My Zillow estimate has increased 20% over what I paid in a little over 2 years.
Here’s a fascinating look at the Seattle housing crises through the eyes of Millennials that have missed out on rising property values because previous generations control most land ownership and zoning laws: https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/04/26/seattle-housing-what-works-next-218058
As someone mentioned selfishness earlier, as a property owner near DTR I would benefit from Amazon gentrification, but the renters certainly would not. What we need is denser zoning for residential near DT. Shotgun houses, condos, brownstones, apartments - bring it on now if we are to comfortably accept Amazon DTR! Otherwise, look to Seattle’s problems for a glimpse of our future.
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I agree with you maverick that our lack of mass transit is a big problem for the bid, especially since the most recently drafted budget has purposefully tried to undermine any potential rail projects. If Amazon was going to choose this area on the condition that we build out good public transit over the next 10 years, the most recent budget seems to have made that a lot less likely.
I won’t ever try to predict what the NCGA will do from one day to the next, but if they can call an “emergency” session to dismantle a city’s bathroom policy, I have a feeling they could (would) rework a new budget with transit earmarks if Amazon chose us…and probably before Bezos finished the speech.
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As someone who lived through another company’s euphoria about growth (that didn’t materialize exactly to plan), I have no doubt that there is no way that Amazon has 50,000 HQ2 people. I’d look for 10-15,000 to actually materialize. Of course, if Amazon wanted to pick up and move its HQ in Seattle, then all bets are off.
The Wake Transit Plan includes increased bus frequency and new routes, BRT, and commuter rail over the next decade. It also relies on local and federal dollars only, without the expectation that state funding would be utilized. Since Amazon is targeting urban areas, and it sounds like downtown Raleigh would be where it’s located, people’s fears may be overstated. However, the NCGA has been attacking cities ever since Republicans took control, so who knows?
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Amazon to property owned by NCSU next to Centennial campus?
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Interesting. Lots of talk about transit, but this site is not particularly close to GoRaleigh station (about an hour walk, 2.6 miles) or Raleigh Union Station (almost 40 min, 1.8 miles). But easy access to I-40, so at least there’s that.
It really annoys me that this article says “Centennial Boulevard” it’s Centennial Parkway for crying out loud!
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Yikes, that’ll certainly place some pressure on Dix Park right out of the gate!
Spring Hill is the secret jewel (130 ac) of Raleigh, which could be a planned western extension of downtown. The one owner site is 1/2 mile off I-40, Farmers Market, overlooking a 300+ acre park, which overlooks Downtown, on a rail line from downtown and adjacent to leading engineering university. Tempting for big tech.
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Ouch. Based on preliminary plans for Dix park that would put Amazon campus on the wrong side of the park. Based on tons of community feedback the architects are proposing dividing the park into a 21st century activated park and a 19th century pastoral park, and the spring Hill property borders the pastoral portion. I wonder how they would keep that framework in place and design the border between high tech urban corporate campus and the favorite field in Raleigh.