OT: Amazon HQ

[recruitsreadtheseboards]

Pittsburgh's on the list. Not sure how strong of a candidate it is. But it is a gamechanger, a complete gamechanger.

If we would land it, it would absolutely skyrocket real estate prices, something this area has not seen. Mixed emotions, but those of us with houses in decent areas, especially some newer developments, we would see our properties probably double in worth in a short time.

 

[HailToPitt725]

I don't live there anymore, but I say bring it on. This may be the biggest opportunity the Burgh will receive for a long time, maybe ever, and I think they'd be fools not to jump at it.

I find it ironic that Pittsburgh comes in as one of the potential cities right after major changes are announced for PIA. I read somewhere that one of the major drawbacks was that we didn't have direct flights to Seattle and maybe this could change that.

EDIT: Just saw that the city hired a consultant to create a bid for the HQ2. Seems like they're serious about it.

 

[PosterToBeNamedLater]

Was researching this today. Couldn’t really think of a logical place to put this small city they want to build

Would be huge for the universities if it goes

 

[HailToPitt725]

Was researching this today. Couldn’t really think of a logical place to put this small city they want to build

Would be huge for the universities if it goes

I think the only two places that would work would be Almono or the Civic Arena site. If they really want urban than the Civic Arena site would be the best bet.

Agreed about universities. Heard that they think of CMU and Pitt as a big advantage because we could crank out engineers.

 

[LeftCoastPanther]

Austin is on the list and I sure as hell hope Amazon doesn't come here.

It would be great for Pittsburgh if the company moved there.

 

[King Of All Message Boards]

They're going wherever they get the biggest incentives/tax break. I would imagine it'll be a battle to land it.

 

[PosterToBeNamedLater]

I think the only two places that would work would be Almono or the Civic Arena site. If they really want urban than the Civic Arena site would be the best bet.

Agreed about universities. Heard that they think of CMU and Pitt as a big advantage because we could crank out engineers.

Can't help but think Duquesne would throw a fit. The amount of traffic that would draw in the winter during pens season would be intolerable

 

[HailtoPitt]

Pittsburgh's lack of rail transit will ultimately doom it as a realistic possibility.

 

[Joe the Panther Fan]

MONORAIL!

 

[bubba31]

Boston will be the destination

Pittsburgh has no realistic chance

 

[Joe the Panther Fan]

Pittsburgh has no realistic chance

I thought that too at first, but then I saw a story on CNN that listed the eight cities they thought had the best chance, and Pittsburgh was on their list. Boston, Toronto, Washington, Atlanta, Dallas, Austin, San Jose and Pittsburgh was their list.

I can't see it happening, but it would be a huge get for the region.

 

[ratking17]

Amazon stadium on cardiac hill

 

[HailToPitt725]

I think Pgh is a pretty good fit. Relatively low cost of living and two great schools. Question will be if Amazon is willing to use some of that $5 B in investment $$ towards transit and infrastructure. If so, that's a game changer.

 

[drp1tt]

Pittsburgh's on the list. Not sure how strong of a candidate it is. But it is a gamechanger, a complete gamechanger.

If we would land it, it would absolutely skyrocket real estate prices, something this area has not seen. Mixed emotions, but those of us with houses in decent areas, especially some newer developments, we would see our properties probably double in worth in a short time.

There was an article I recently read where Pittsburgh is highly mentioned but breaking down all the required requisites via computer it ranked Denver #1. Mostly because they wanted a city over 1 million.

 

[Sarge25]

F Amazon. I hope they go somewhere else.

 

[ameoba defense]

There was an article I recently read where Pittsburgh is highly mentioned but breaking down all the required requisites via computer it ranked Denver #1. Mostly because they wanted a city over 1 million.

Pittsburgh has over 2 million people. These types of things go by metro population, if they didn't Boston would be eliminated.

 

[Gunga_Galunga]

Amazon CFO is from Hershey, and his wife is from Pittsburgh. Undergrad at PSU and MBA from CMU. Lived in the burgh while working at Fisher before going to Amazon. They, and particularly him, are big on hiring CMU grads . That's the connection. Interestingly enough, his last name is Olsavsky.

 

[HailtoPitt]

I think Pgh is a pretty good fit. Relatively low cost of living and two great schools. Question will be if Amazon is willing to use some of that $5 B in investment $$ towards transit and infrastructure. If so, that's a game changer.

They have a bunch of other cities to choose from with established rail transit. Access to public transit at the proposed site is in their rfp, and I don't think PAT buses are what they are hoping for. So cities like Boston, DC, Chicago, Atlanta, Denver, etc have a huge leg up, in my opinion. Just being cheap and having one highly touted school isn't enough.

Now, there are a couple of things that could work in Pittsburgh's favor. The city is working on building a road through Panther Hollow from Oakland to the Almono site in Hazlewood. This could be made a leg of a larger rail system, but I don't see that happen. The city will come up with some bs about extending the BRT down that road with self driving buses and bike lanes.

Second, Pittsburgh is a finalist for the hyper loop that would go from Pittsburgh to Columbus to Chicago. Imagine going to a Pitt vs. Ohio State in Columbus game and total transit time being less than 1 hour. Imagine living in Chicago and commuting to your Amazon job in Pittsburgh in 45 minutes.

I ultimately think that Amazon will choose a city or suburb of a city that has established rail transportation for it's younger workers in a state that rolls out the welcome mat via incentives and tax breaks. PA will do that for Pittsburgh in this case, but we are still missing some key things that Amazon wants.

 

[upj87]

MONORAIL!

Shelbyville troll.....

 

[Swervin27]

They have a bunch of other cities to choose from with established rail transit. Access to public transit at the proposed site is in their rfp, and I don't think PAT buses are what they are hoping for. So cities like Boston, DC, Chicago, Atlanta, Denver, etc have a huge leg up, in my opinion. Just being cheap and having one highly touted school isn't enough.

Now, there are a couple of things that could work in Pittsburgh's favor. The city is working on building a road through Panther Hollow from Oakland to the Almono site in Hazlewood. This could be made a leg of a larger rail system, but I don't see that happen. The city will come up with some bs about extending the BRT down that road with self driving buses and bike lanes.

Second, Pittsburgh is a finalist for the hyper loop that would go from Pittsburgh to Columbus to Chicago. Imagine going to a Pitt vs. Ohio State in Columbus game and total transit time being less than 1 hour. Imagine living in Chicago and commuting to your Amazon job in Pittsburgh in 45 minutes.

I ultimately think that Amazon will choose a city or suburb of a city that has established rail transportation for it's younger workers in a state that rolls out the welcome mat via incentives and tax breaks. PA will do that for Pittsburgh in this case, but we are still missing some key things that Amazon wants.

lol, yeah, this hyper loop will definitely happen and im sure we'll see construction within the year..

 

[HailtoPitt]

lol, yeah, this hyper loop will definitely happen and im sure we'll see construction within the year..

http://nbc4i.com/2017/09/14/midwest-hyperloop-proposal-selected-to-move-forward-in-planning-process/

 

[Swervin27]

http://nbc4i.com/2017/09/14/midwest-hyperloop-proposal-selected-to-move-forward-in-planning-process/

I saw the article. I can show you proposals and planning processes for a rail line connecting south park to the airport, the old airport, circa 1985. I am cynical on stuff like this. hell, in 6 months, you wont be able to get a bus from the east end to downtown so a tube getting me to Chicago in an hour seems a tad unlikely. I know it's different budgets, state vs federal but still decades away from happening..

but hey, if it's privately funded, ill be onboard, figuratively of course, not literally. i'll wait for the first and second major disaster causing human fatalities then wait for the upgrades and then jump on board literally.

 

[HailtoPitt]

I saw the article. I can show you proposals and planning processes for a rail line connecting south park to the airport, the old airport, circa 1985. I am cynical on stuff like this. hell, in 6 months, you wont be able to get a bus from the east end to downtown so a tube getting me to Chicago in an hour seems a tad unlikely. I know it's different budgets, state vs federal but still decades away from happening..

but hey, if it's privately funded, ill be onboard, figuratively of course, not literally. i'll wait for the first and second major disaster causing human fatalities then wait for the upgrades and then jump on board literally.

I think this is different than the monorail. It's going to happen.

 

[Swervin27]

I think this is different than the monorail. It's going to happen.

look at this freakin thing? are you jumping in this thing? I wont even talk about this being a muslim's wet dream to cause trouble, not like you can have security on this thing... zero chance we see anything resembling this as far as human transportation within the next decade.

this is a james bond movie, shwartzenegger action movie

 

[recruitsreadtheseboards]

I saw the article. I can show you proposals and planning processes for a rail line connecting south park to the airport, the old airport, circa 1985. I am cynical on stuff like this. hell, in 6 months, you wont be able to get a bus from the east end to downtown so a tube getting me to Chicago in an hour seems a tad unlikely. I know it's different budgets, state vs federal but still decades away from happening..

but hey, if it's privately funded, ill be onboard, figuratively of course, not literally. i'll wait for the first and second major disaster causing human fatalities then wait for the upgrades and then jump on board literally.

These things would be like the bullet trains in Japan, right? They are fantastic. I took one from Tokyo to Kobe, which is like almost 300 miles and it took about 2 1/2 hours. So these would be obviously faster.

 

[ERICCARTMAN]

Amazon's headquarters in Seattle is spread over a number of sites. They would do the same in Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh sites include, the Point, Airport, Almono, Civic Arena, and the Strip.

 

[rmf05]

The only thing moving forward for the Hyperloop project is continued research and development. It is very far from being realistically considered at this point. Maglev is really dicey. Can you image what would happen if a joint in the track heaved 1/32" during freeze/thaw and a pod made contact with it going 400MPH? The proposed route has several 90-degree turns. What would that feel like?

If Amazon were to decide on PGH. the site would likely be the Airport Corridor area. That would be the lynch-pin for linking the airport and downtown via light rail.

I doubt either of these comes to reality.

 

[recruitsreadtheseboards]

The only thing moving forward for the Hyperloop project is continued research and development. It is very far from being realistically considered at this point. Maglev is really dicey. Can you image what would happen if a joint in the track heaved 1/32" during freeze/thaw and a pod made contact with it going 400MPH? The proposed route has several 90-degree turns. What would that feel like?

If Amazon were to decide on PGH. the site would likely be the Airport Corridor area. That would be the lynch-pin for linking the airport and downtown via light rail.

I doubt either of these comes to reality.

We could put the HQ right next to the Shell Cracker plant.

 

[Swervin27]

Amazon's headquarters in Seattle is spread over a number of sites. They would do the same in Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh sites include, the Point, Airport, Almono, Civic Arena, and the Strip.

there has been some recent movement/development with regards to the Almono. i'll see if I can find a link. I've been interested in this area for some unknown reason. seems like they are getting some legit bids and dare I say, maybe some actual plans that could happen in our life time..

 

[Swervin27]

The only thing moving forward for the Hyperloop project is continued research and development. It is very far from being realistically considered at this point. Maglev is really dicey. Can you image what would happen if a joint in the track heaved 1/32" during freeze/thaw and a pod made contact with it going 400MPH? The proposed route has several 90-degree turns. What would that feel like?

If Amazon were to decide on PGH. the site would likely be the Airport Corridor area. That would be the lynch-pin for linking the airport and downtown via light rail.

I doubt either of these comes to reality.

Why not build something like this for non human transport? Maybe some of it underground? that would have to be financially worthwhile and if something bad happens, it's not a human fatality. you could transport a lot of consumer goods here, medical-specimens, nike script pitt Tee shirts, anything. Why humans, get some of these damn 18 wheelers off the road, mucking up rt. 70 and vacuum these sumbeetches from state to state..

 

[rmf05]

I think that's what you'll see. There's a reason that Chi-Pitt is the corridor being considered. The early iterations will be for freight.

 

[HailtoPitt]

The only thing moving forward for the Hyperloop project is continued research and development. It is very far from being realistically considered at this point. Maglev is really dicey. Can you image what would happen if a joint in the track heaved 1/32" during freeze/thaw and a pod made contact with it going 400MPH? The proposed route has several 90-degree turns. What would that feel like?

If Amazon were to decide on PGH. the site would likely be the Airport Corridor area. That would be the lynch-pin for linking the airport and downtown via light rail.

I doubt either of these comes to reality.

I don't think that Amazon wants to be that far away from a city center, but, if they did consider that location then the city and state need to pledge a new rail line as part of the deal. Going from the city to the airport while passing by the Amazon headquarters (mainly one location) would be worth it considering the increase in tax revenue economic impact 50,000 well paying new jobs would have on the area.

I would rather see the city and state scrap the BRT line and pledge to build a new T line from downtown thorough Oakland and over to Hazlewood if Amazon agreed on the Almono site. This is the type of trigger that could allow it to happen in this political climate, because the impact would be so huge. Plus, Amazon is not very likely to choose one of the potential Pittsburgh location of only PAT bus access is available.

That would be good for Pitt. Outside of the obvious thousands of possible jobs for new grads, it would connect the Oakland campus to that area which essentially makes the campus more connected with the city. Having a dedicated rail track going from Pitt's campus over to downtown and the Northside for games, as well as over to Hazlewood for the tech corridor area and a large Amazon employment site (and perhaps a dedicated road that gets the football team over towards the UPMC practice facility much faster), would be unbelievable.

 

[Swervin27]

I don't think that Amazon wants to be that far away from a city center, but, if they did consider that location then the city and state need to pledge a new rail line as part of the deal. Going from the city to the airport while passing by the Amazon headquarters (mainly one location) would be worth it considering the increase in tax revenue economic impact 50,000 well paying new jobs would have on the area.

think the state is pledging 1billion to the airport already for the upgrades..

 

[HailtoPitt]

think the state is pledging 1billion to the airport already for the upgrades..

I believe that the airport's $1 billion wont come from tax dollars. They will do some sort of bond issue to get that money and then pay it off from the airport fees. That's my guess anyway.

 

[pitt2533]

I believe that the airport's $1 billion wont come from tax dollars. They will do some sort of bond issue to get that money and then pay it off from the airport fees. That's my guess anyway.

I think you are correct at least from what the story I saw on the News. But I don't know all the exact details. 1 Billion is obviously a whole lot of coin so I found it hard to believe that Airport Fees alone would be able to pay that off.

 

[recruitsreadtheseboards]

That's another thing. Another benefit. If Amazon would come here, no doubt one of the big airlines would have us as a Hub. It is so hard to get direct flights anymore other than to the major cities.

 

[rmf05]

I believe that the airport's $1 billion wont come from tax dollars. They will do some sort of bond issue to get that money and then pay it off from the airport fees. That's my guess anyway.

Correct. That is what makes the airport the most likely destination for Amazon in the region. The HQ would be at the current landside site, in close proximity to any container/package handling and better and less congested access to the interstates. I'm not sure what the deal with Almono is. They've had so many folks back out that I wonder if the remediation that was done, was fouled up somehow?

 

[Sarge25]

I think this is different than the monorail. It's going to happen.

how old are you?

 

[HailtoPitt]

how old are you?

Upper 30s. I mispoke in a previous post. The monorail actually did happen of I recall what Rick Sebak showed on his South Park special. Maglev is what I meant to say.

 

[JoseLind13]

The proposals are to include multiple sites serving different functions throughout each bidding metro area, not just a single mega-building. The Pittsburgh hired firm is soliciting input from a 10 county ring around Pittsburgh for possible satellite locations. While I doubt it would stray too wide from the urban concentration to be viable, regional presences could touch a variety of communities beyond the likes of Downtown/Oakland to spots like the airport region, Southpointe, Cranberry, etc.

I don't think Pittsburgh is as long of shot as many may think.