Looks like NOVA won Amazon HQ

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Anything in Fairfax is suburban, not exurban.

False.

+1

Fairfax is way the hell out there.

It really isn’t. I live near the proposed cite. In rush hour, I’m 20 minutes from Tyson’s. On weekends, we are a half hour from the Kennedy Center and 40 minutes from the Smithsonians.

It IS a long commute during rush hour. Or a very expensive one, not that 66 is hot lanes. But a countercommute from DC to Western Fairfax? 40 minutes.

Those are all far commutes from dc! 20 minutes from Tyson’s means you’re far out.

[Anonymous]

Fairfax is the definition of suburban.

An exurb is an area connected to a large metro area that used to be rural. Places where people get up at 5 am and get on the VRE or those commuter buses.

I live downtown and find the posturing from city people (usually recent transplants from godknowswhere) over how impossibly far away places like Tysons are to be so tiresome. Get over yourselves.

[Anonymous]

You guys haven't even been to the exurbs. We have someone in our office who commutes from Fredericksburg and someone who lives in Winchester. Those are the exurbs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Fairfax is the definition of suburban.

An exurb is an area connected to a large metro area that used to be rural. Places where people get up at 5 am and get on the VRE or those commuter buses.

I live downtown and find the posturing from city people (usually recent transplants from godknowswhere) over how impossibly far away places like Tysons are to be so tiresome. Get over yourselves.

+1

Really isn't that hard to get to DC from Fairfax, Vienna, Tysons, Oakton, etc., etc. These are not exurbs.

[Anonymous]

Thinking about this morning's commute.

OK, let's say we "won" HQ-2. Is it too late to give it back?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Fairfax is the definition of suburban.

An exurb is an area connected to a large metro area that used to be rural. Places where people get up at 5 am and get on the VRE or those commuter buses.

I live downtown and find the posturing from city people (usually recent transplants from godknowswhere) over how impossibly far away places like Tysons are to be so tiresome. Get over yourselves.

+1

Really isn't that hard to get to DC from Fairfax, Vienna, Tysons, Oakton, etc., etc. These are not exurbs.

My spouse does the MD to Fairfax commute. Clearly you have not done it. On a good day it takes 70-90 minutes to get home. About 45-50 minutes on a good day to get there. There is only one bridge to go and traffic is terrible. Throw in a rain or snow storm and it could take hours. Those commuter buses are not helpful if you are not in the city or your office is not near a drop off point, plus you have to pay for them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Thinking about this morning's commute.

OK, let's say we "won" HQ-2. Is it too late to give it back?

Agree

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Give me a break. HQs go where CEOs live...Amazon’s HQ will be in DC. The rest is just a charade.

the sites in DC are terrible and we already have multiple development sites in litigation. No way this could go through without at least 5 years of lawsuits from DC residents to stop it. Crystal City is the best location. On metro, urban enough, VA is business friendly and you can be in DC in 10 minutes. Dulles corridor is a shit show of congestion and suburbia, two things Bezos did not want.

Crystal City is a s*** show too.

+1.

DCUM: HQ2 isn’t moving to Herndon. They can’t afford 700k 3000 sq houses.

Also DCUM: HQ2 is coming to Arlington, land of the million dollar shitshacks.

Here a fact guys. Your school system can’t manage the kids they already have without talking about two tracking the high schools because building a 4th high school is impossible for some reason. You do not have the infrastructure for the influx HQ2 would bring. You don’t have a plan to educate the kids you have. That’s just nuts. Tell your school board to get it together, or quit angling for more growth.

Also, saying that the Dulles Tech corridor is congested, but CRYSTAL CITY IS NOT is bonkers. I live in the Dulles Tech corridor and work in CC. CC is a lot more congested than Western Fairfax.

Amazon doesn't care about where their employees kids go to school. Its a non-issue. Not their problem.

Wasn't affordability one of Amazon's priority? That should rule out most of the DC area, in theory. But I suspect Amazon will ignore this priority and go for another expensive market.

affordability is one criterion of many.

They MIGHT go for a lower COL metro area.

They might go for an urban location in a high COL area, such as Crystal City.

They might compromise and go with Herndon (or similar in other metros)

I don't know exactly.

If they DO locate in CC, some new folks will live in Arlington, most families with HS age children will not. Arlington will manage the school capacity issue.

And Amazon will find that CC's combination of walkability, bikability, metrorail, VRE, and buses, provides many options. It is dense, and I suppose driving is a pain, but it doesn't really feel that congested.

But Herndon, with its convenience to Dulles airport, and to a large tech workforce, has advantages as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Fairfax is the definition of suburban.

An exurb is an area connected to a large metro area that used to be rural. Places where people get up at 5 am and get on the VRE or those commuter buses.

I live downtown and find the posturing from city people (usually recent transplants from godknowswhere) over how impossibly far away places like Tysons are to be so tiresome. Get over yourselves.

+1

Really isn't that hard to get to DC from Fairfax, Vienna, Tysons, Oakton, etc., etc. These are not exurbs.

My spouse does the MD to Fairfax commute. Clearly you have not done it. On a good day it takes 70-90 minutes to get home. About 45-50 minutes on a good day to get there. There is only one bridge to go and traffic is terrible. Throw in a rain or snow storm and it could take hours. Those commuter buses are not helpful if you are not in the city or your office is not near a drop off point, plus you have to pay for them.

Yeah. She’s coming from MD...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Give me a break. HQs go where CEOs live...Amazon’s HQ will be in DC. The rest is just a charade.

the sites in DC are terrible and we already have multiple development sites in litigation. No way this could go through without at least 5 years of lawsuits from DC residents to stop it. Crystal City is the best location. On metro, urban enough, VA is business friendly and you can be in DC in 10 minutes. Dulles corridor is a shit show of congestion and suburbia, two things Bezos did not want.

Crystal City is a s*** show too.

+1.

DCUM: HQ2 isn’t moving to Herndon. They can’t afford 700k 3000 sq houses.

Also DCUM: HQ2 is coming to Arlington, land of the million dollar shitshacks.

Here a fact guys. Your school system can’t manage the kids they already have without talking about two tracking the high schools because building a 4th high school is impossible for some reason. You do not have the infrastructure for the influx HQ2 would bring. You don’t have a plan to educate the kids you have. That’s just nuts. Tell your school board to get it together, or quit angling for more growth.

Also, saying that the Dulles Tech corridor is congested, but CRYSTAL CITY IS NOT is bonkers. I live in the Dulles Tech corridor and work in CC. CC is a lot more congested than Western Fairfax.

Amazon doesn't care about where their employees kids go to school. Its a non-issue. Not their problem.

Wasn't affordability one of Amazon's priority? That should rule out most of the DC area, in theory. But I suspect Amazon will ignore this priority and go for another expensive market.

affordability is one criterion of many.

They MIGHT go for a lower COL metro area.

They might go for an urban location in a high COL area, such as Crystal City.

They might compromise and go with Herndon (or similar in other metros)

I don't know exactly.

If they DO locate in CC, some new folks will live in Arlington, most families with HS age children will not. Arlington will manage the school capacity issue.

And Amazon will find that CC's combination of walkability, bikability, metrorail, VRE, and buses, provides many options. It is dense, and I suppose driving is a pain, but it doesn't really feel that congested.

But Herndon, with its convenience to Dulles airport, and to a large tech workforce, has advantages as well.

Amazon's criteria is what makes most sense for Amazon financially. Its about money. They don't truly care about housing, schools or transportation. And, just because there is public transportation around its not that easy for most to get to that public transportation. The metro is very limited in where it goes. You have to cut through DC from MD to get to VA. You are fooling yourself to think it has to do with anything beyond money. They have to leave/cannot grow in Seattle because they are now heavily taxing them. Its all about money.

[Anonymous]

https://www.bizjournals.com/washington/news/2018/06/12/amazon-web-services-buying-into-massive-waterside.html?ana=psm_wa_fbpvkwmay18&kwp_0=877864&kwp_4=2996703&kwp_1=1262825

Here is the article about AWS purchasing land.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:https://www.bizjournals.com/washington/news/2018/06/12/amazon-web-services-buying-into-massive-waterside.html?ana=psm_wa_fbpvkwmay18&kwp_0=877864&kwp_4=2996703&kwp_1=1262825

Here is the article about AWS purchasing land.

Please. These are for server farms or distribution centers. Trust me, Bezos is not signing himself up for a hellish commute. This was all a charade to see how low they could get DC to go and also to get some innovative ideas.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Fairfax is the definition of suburban.

An exurb is an area connected to a large metro area that used to be rural. Places where people get up at 5 am and get on the VRE or those commuter buses.

I live downtown and find the posturing from city people (usually recent transplants from godknowswhere) over how impossibly far away places like Tysons are to be so tiresome. Get over yourselves.

+1

Really isn't that hard to get to DC from Fairfax, Vienna, Tysons, Oakton, etc., etc. These are not exurbs.

I guess it depends on how you define “hard.” I consider sitting in my car for over an hour each way to be “hard.”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Fairfax is the definition of suburban.

An exurb is an area connected to a large metro area that used to be rural. Places where people get up at 5 am and get on the VRE or those commuter buses.

I live downtown and find the posturing from city people (usually recent transplants from godknowswhere) over how impossibly far away places like Tysons are to be so tiresome. Get over yourselves.

+1

Really isn't that hard to get to DC from Fairfax, Vienna, Tysons, Oakton, etc., etc. These are not exurbs.

I guess it depends on how you define “hard.” I consider sitting in my car for over an hour each way to be “hard.”

You could ride the metro or the VRE for an hour instead. Read a book, listen a podcast, watch a show, relax.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:https://www.bizjournals.com/washington/news/2018/06/12/amazon-web-services-buying-into-massive-waterside.html?ana=psm_wa_fbpvkwmay18&kwp_0=877864&kwp_4=2996703&kwp_1=1262825

Here is the article about AWS purchasing land.

Please. These are for server farms or distribution centers. Trust me, Bezos is not signing himself up for a hellish commute. This was all a charade to see how low they could get DC to go and also to get some innovative ideas.

Have you heard of helicopters?