Ottawa's bid for Amazon HQ2

[Uhuniau]

Originally Posted by YOWetal

Hotels are probably more expensive in Montreal and parking costs. Sales tax is higher so clothes and the like will be a bit more expensive.

Also if you pick the 10 best restaurants in both cities Montreal will probably be more expensive. However, if you compare like quality Montreal comes out much cheaper.

Most people don't eat at the 10 best restaurants.

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by rocketphish

In wooing Amazon, Ottawa makes one list – 'most desperate stunts'

Megan Gillis, Ottawa Citizen
Published on: October 24, 2017 | Last Updated: October 24, 2017 11:29 AM EDT


https://twitter.com/Jyrki21/status/920451152621244417/photo/1

Ottawa has made at least one list in its bid to land the new Amazon headquarters.

Too bad it’s Vanity Fair’s roundup of the dozen most “desperate stunts” that cities have pulled to catch the online retail giant’s eye.

http://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news...awa-makes-one-list-most-desperate-stunts

How is that so desperate? Not like this took very long to come up with or cost much of anything?

No mention of Calgary and their intensive ad campaign in Seattle. That's desperate and expensive.

[acottawa]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

No mention of Calgary and their intensive ad campaign in Seattle. That's desperate and expensive.

They just landed a distribution centre.

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by acottawa

They just landed a distribution centre.

That must have been in the works for a while, not based on a month long ad campaign.

[1overcosc]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

How is that so desperate? Not like this took very long to come up with or cost much of anything?

No mention of Calgary and their intensive ad campaign in Seattle. That's desperate and expensive.

Calgary made the list of desperate stunts too for that campaign.

They'd have a very good shot, if it weren't for:
1) the lack of an established tech sector
2) too far west (most seem to agree that the eastern side of the continent is Amazon's first preference).

[eltodesukane]

Although Amazon [...] has just begun reviewing the applications, that hasn’t stopped a nationwide parlor game of picking a winner.
Moody’s Analytics has already crowned Austin, Tex.
The New York Times Upshot chose Denver.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/26/business/amazon-headquarters-competition.html

[acottawa]

Originally Posted by 1overcosc

2) too far west (most seem to agree that the eastern side of the continent is Amazon's first preference).

Amazon has not identified that as a preference.

[J.OT13]

I wonder if it's all just a marketing stunt. Maybe they're not actually looking for a HQ2. Adding 50,000 new employees and 8 million square feet within 10 years seems a little far-fetched, even for Amazon.

[1overcosc]

Originally Posted by acottawa

Amazon has not identified that as a preference.

No, but a lot of analysts have. The betting odds are that Atlanta has the best chance overall, with Toronto the best in Canada.

[Vixx]

Seems like Atlanta has been gaining traction in recent days. While it ticks off most of Amazon's Wishlist and is in a great position geographically speaking, it isn't the most desirable place to live. The city suffers from high crime and endless sprawl, kind of hard to imagine the typical Amazon young tech professional dreaming of settling down there, IMO.

[acottawa]

I think a lot of it depends on what they want to do with HQ2. If the objective is to separate the retail business then Atlanta is perfect: mega-airport, cheap housing, cheap labour, reasonable number of amenities. Staff could jet off to suppliers and warehouses easily.

If HQ2 is focussed on the R&D side of things and they need to attract top talent then Atlanta will struggle: intolerant/racist state, no significant university, ultra suburban culture, humid as f***.

[jchamoun79]

Originally Posted by acottawa

If HQ2 is focussed on the R&D side of things and they need to attract top talent then Atlanta will struggle: intolerant/racist state, no significant university, ultra suburban culture, humid as f***.

Georgia Tech is not significant?

[acottawa]

Originally Posted by jchamoun79

Georgia Tech is not significant?

Seems like a lower tier school in the technology sector.

http://www.businessinsider.com/schools-with-the-most-alumni-at-google-2015-10

[Harley613]

Originally Posted by Vixx

Seems like Atlanta has been gaining traction in recent days. While it ticks off most of Amazon's Wishlist and is in a great position geographically speaking, it isn't the most desirable place to live. The city suffers from high crime and endless sprawl, kind of hard to imagine the typical Amazon young tech professional dreaming of settling down there, IMO.

No way Atlanta is in a better position Geographically. Not even close. Ottawa is in the middle of the Quebec City-Windsor Corridor in a country that has a 2 week turnaround time for foreign tech visas and it's within a few hours drive/2 hour flight of American cities like Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Washington, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Detroit, Columbus, and many more. Atlanta is as close to what...Nashville? Louisville? Jacksonville? Charlotte? How is that going to help?
Not even a comparison. Sure they have direct flights to pretty much everywhere, but they are completely insular as far as driving goes. There are no major cities within an easy drive at all. Ottawa has a massive geographical advantage...unfortunately Toronto shares that advantage. I have a feeling Toronto is going to win this sweepstakes regardless of the cost of real estate. They check off all the other boxes.

[Marshsparrow]

i can hardly wait for this Amazon business to be over with... Toronto is the only Cdn contender - the rest is just noise.

[YOWetal]

Originally Posted by acottawa

I think a lot of it depends on what they want to do with HQ2. If the objective is to separate the retail business then Atlanta is perfect: mega-airport, cheap housing, cheap labour, reasonable number of amenities. Staff could jet off to suppliers and warehouses easily.

If HQ2 is focussed on the R&D side of things and they need to attract top talent then Atlanta will struggle: intolerant/racist state, no significant university, ultra suburban culture, humid as f***.

This along with the other geography and education comments really show how little Canadians understand about America and Americans.

There is almost no American who would say Ottawa, or even Toronto, is better located, has better education institutions and certainly doesn't have a better climate than Atlanta.

[GreatTallNorth2]

Originally Posted by Vixx

Seems like Atlanta has been gaining traction in recent days. While it ticks off most of Amazon's Wishlist and is in a great position geographically speaking, it isn't the most desirable place to live. The city suffers from high crime and endless sprawl, kind of hard to imagine the typical Amazon young tech professional dreaming of settling down there, IMO.

I spend a lot of time in Atlanta for work. Not sure the crime stats (not saying it's good), but the sprawl isn't that much different than any other city and I am not even sure how that would negatively affect a bid anyways. As far as young tech professionals wanting to settle there, I would say they are coming there in droves already. Atlanta is the major city of the southeast - tons of head offices, media companies (CNN, Turner, etc), attractions, every major sports league except NHL, hip neighbourhoods. And the city is relatively affordable for a major U.S. city.

[acottawa]

Originally Posted by YOWetal

This along with the other geography and education comments really show how little Canadians understand about America and Americans.

There is almost no American who would say Ottawa, or even Toronto, is better located, has better education institutions and certainly doesn't have a better climate than Atlanta.

I didn't in any way suggest that. I was responding to several posts that had said Atlanta was in the lead.

[acottawa]

Originally Posted by Harley613

No way Atlanta is in a better position Geographically. Not even close. Ottawa is in the middle of the Quebec City-Windsor Corridor in a country that has a 2 week turnaround time for foreign tech visas and it's within a few hours drive/2 hour flight of American cities like Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Washington, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Detroit, Columbus, and many more. Atlanta is as close to what...Nashville? Louisville? Jacksonville? Charlotte? How is that going to help?
Not even a comparison. Sure they have direct flights to pretty much everywhere, but they are completely insular as far as driving goes. There are no major cities within an easy drive at all. Ottawa has a massive geographical advantage...unfortunately Toronto shares that advantage. I have a feeling Toronto is going to win this sweepstakes regardless of the cost of real estate. They check off all the other boxes.

Atlanta has the busiest airport in the world and has direct flights to pretty much everywhere.

[1overcosc]

Originally Posted by acottawa

Atlanta has the busiest airport in the world and has direct flights to pretty much everywhere.

Atlanta has very good connections within the USA but it's international connections aren't nearly as good.. YYZ actually has more.