DT Raleigh’s problem for them was and still kinda is…… Hotel space for visitors! And a bit of reluctance around the connectivity of DT Raleigh to RDU.
More hotel space than DT Durham. And North Hills isn’t much better than the straight shot down 40 that DTSouth would provide. Though if they came, I’d be ok if they went to NH. I’d like to keep it in Raleigh at least.
6 Likes
Why would they need a lot of hotel space for a satellite office? Its not like it would be the HQ?
You forget Amazon has a prior relationship with Kane as Kane was one of the main developers involved in the HQ2 search………where my understanding Raleigh was the “choice” (or at least 2nd) based on the panel’s recommendation………but Bezos wanted “big city”, in particular DC.
4 Likes
Trying to avoid going down the rabbit hole because I already discussed more than I should have. But they have a formula for all office space, must be XXX, must have XXX, must be within X miles of … DT Raleigh doesn’t necessarily fit the formula is what I can say.
Where North Hills, RTP, DT Durham are more likely.
Not trying to pop anyones bubble, or go against the grain just sharing what I know. And I could be wrong if they get a sweetheart deal.
5 Likes
The heap of new hotels affect this formula? Probably why the city wants that 500 room convention center hotel so bad.
2 Likes
DTD might have more unique / ‘boutique’ hotel options than DTR but not sure about more options.
Certainly with more hotels in the pipeline, that reality is changing DTR. Would like to see it skew more unique / boutique at some point over the next decade personally but excited to see more rooms in the short term.
As far as Amazon, well I won’t cry if they continue their path or pick DTD or NH, maybe the eventual DTS.
Triangle momentum continues to build, all boats rise.
4 Likes
Heard this from my Dad and thought I’d share it with everyone since we’ve been mentioning Downtown Durham here. My dad works for Duke at the American Tobacco Campus and last year Duke canceled their leases, moved the majority of folks to permanent WFH, and downsized to a smaller building in DTD for ‘critical/on-site’ staff. He told me over this past weekend it looks like Clorox will be taking up their old space in the ATC. For anyone who doesn’t remember, this is in regards to this announcement from 2020.
6 Likes
My brother is also a Duke employee and he’s also now permanent WFH.
Yeah they didn’t have to twist my dad’s arm too hard when he was offered permanent WFH. My parents live in Cary so he didn’t mind giving up that I-40/147 commute everyday.
5 Likes
My brother is in north Raleigh…same for him. He no longer puts 20,000 miles on a car each year.
1 Like
Yeah, I feel like the explosion of remote work would allow Amazon to tap the talent base here without necessarily planting a flag with any major real estate or office space. Seems like you confirmed my suspicion, for now at least.
2 Likes
They’ve remained pretty adamant about wanting to have an office-centric culture:
Amazon has 20-odd “tech hubs” besides the HQs, and some are pretty huge – recent announcements will put Austin and Phoenix at 5,000 jobs apiece, as big as the Nashville “bronze medal.”
4 Likes
Can’t remember who on this thread was so certain Amazon would not open an office in Downtown Raleigh but I am at Morgan Street and ran into an old colleague who is now with AWS and informed me that Amazon just took up space in the We Work Tower……
12 Likes
Wasn’t NCSU’s Spring Hill property offered to Amazon when HQ2 was a thing? Not exactly downtown but in 8 years it might be pretty appealing for a company to setup shop there.
2 Likes
Yeah that’s accurate. Honestly the Spring Hill area would be super desirable for a company like that… I would think at least.
2 Likes
Spring Hill + a large swath of properties stretching from North Hills through Downtown Proper…maybe even DT South.
3 Likes
If I were an engineer, I would rather be at AWS than Amazon “retail”, but I’m guessing whoever said this did not mean no subsidiary of Amazon would ever have a presence here (there are hundreds of these, with AWS being a critical one), but rather that the corporate presence of Amazon as described in HQ2 would not be here.
1 Like
But it was the downtown Raleigh locations which seemed to be what drew the most attention for us during the HQ2 Idol search. It wasn’t Morrisville or North Hills. And I think Durham was even left off the invitation until they forced Amazon to awkwardly acknowledge it was an oversight and Durham was indeed part of the Raleigh bid.
2 Likes
There are many advantages to having multiple offices around the country. GE did it in the 20th century and these mega tech companies are doing it now. One of the not-so-small benefits is having increased leverage in DC when you have jobs in lots of states/districts. You can really lean on an ever increasing number of Senators and Congresspeople.
Durham’s nitpicking was just a question of the wording they used. The state only asked Amazon to clarify the specific branding they used for the Triangle. There was no sign that the substance of our bid changed before/after the finalist announcement.
Downtown Raleigh’s proposed site obviously got more attention here (this is dtraleigh.com after all), but our region’s bid for HQ2 included several sites throughout the Triangle -including Wendell Falls and Chatham Park.
2 Likes