| Amazon is looking for another U.S. headquarters, and everyone wants a piece of the action.
The New York Times had an interesting analysis of Amazon’s requirements and where the company might find its needs met. Boston was in the top three but failed to make the cut due to the fact that the city doesn’t have 8 million square feet available, nor does it have the space to build 8 million square feet.
Denver was the winner in the Times’ analysis, but just as Portland (the other Portland, the one in Oregon) was disqualified for being too close to the current headquarters in Seattle, Amazon may make the same determination about Denver. Most likely the firm is looking somewhere on the East Coast, and Boston is no doubt a contender.
There’s no denying the Times’ conclusion that Boston doesn’t have the square footage available now, nor is it likely to have it in the future. There are options. It could be cobbled together from various locations in and around the city. Suffolk Downs has been mentioned. Amazon has enough money to buy a harbor island and build something there. Jeff Bezos will probably want something different, something unique, which will require a huge site.
There’s a place near to Boston that does have that kind of square footage available – South Weymouth’s Union Point (formerly SouthField, formerly a Naval Air Base).
If Amazon comes to the Greater Boston area, it will be an enormous drain on the area’s resources. If the city doesn’t have 8 million square feet for office use, it sure as hell doesn’t have enough apartments or condos to house the people who will work in that space. Our infrastructure can barely support the people using it now; add GE and it’s going to be even worse. Add Amazon and we might as well never leave our houses.
Of course Amazon’s potential decision to come to Boston would be a feather in the cap of the innovation economy. Housing and infrastructure are obvious problems must be addressed before the decision is made. Amazon’s tax breaks will be staggering – the least they can do is pump some money into the infrastructure they’re about to overrun.
That’s another point in Union Point’s favor – it has its own commuter rail station. And it has 4,000 permitted units of housing. Amazon can have its own little enclave down on the South Shore, just 20 minutes from Boston (according to Union Point’s website, which was clearly not measured at rush hour).
If it has to be Boston – and it absolutely does not, there are plenty of other worthy, interesting and appealing cities on the Eastern Seaboard – Union Point is probably the strongest contender. And regardless of whether the company is in South Weymouth, Revere and/or every neighborhood of Boston, the deal should include a large contribution to the state’s infrastructure. God help us, we’re going to need it.
