urbanMSP

Posted: **September 27th, 2017, 6:44 pm**

That's already going to happen with the way the StP mayoral candidates are giving in to the Highland Park NIMBYs on this site.

None of that matters now, site plan approved 5-2: http://www.startribune.com/st-paul-city ... 448252103/

Although to me 4,000 units is still a missed opportunity.

Posted: **September 27th, 2017, 7:17 pm**

Those are basically all the sites you'd guess.

Ranked:
1. Mpls Farmer’s Market
2. Towerside
3. Midway
4. Downtown Saint Paul
5. Bassett Creek Valley
6. Ford Site
7. Upper Harbor Terminal

I'm curious about this ranking. What's your criteria? Towerside would require a lot of relocations/demo, Midway doesn't seem big enough and downtown St. Paul is just a laugher -- they can't even hold a small-to-medium sized company due to lack of space. And the Ford site, well, lots of people have commented on why that wouldn't work very well.

Posted: **September 27th, 2017, 7:35 pm**

Those are basically all the sites you'd guess.

Ranked:
1. Mpls Farmer’s Market
2. Towerside
3. Midway
4. Downtown Saint Paul
5. Bassett Creek Valley
6. Ford Site
7. Upper Harbor Terminal
I'm curious about this ranking. What's your criteria? Towerside would require a lot of relocations/demo, Midway doesn't seem big enough and downtown St. Paul is just a laugher -- they can't even hold a small-to-medium sized company due to lack of space. And the Ford site, well, lots of people have commented on why that wouldn't work very well.

Just because I put them in order doesn't mean that they are any good. I think the Farmers Market site is the only truly suitable option. But there's room for Amazon at most of these sites if cities are willing to hand out the necessary variances. My rankings were subjective impressions, in my own head, of availability and connectivity, and bonus advantages, like being close to the U. They are nothing scientific.

Posted: **September 27th, 2017, 8:45 pm**

DT St. Paul seems like the hands-down winner to me since they could basically mesh their HQ on top of the existing infrastructure and building stock.

Posted: **September 28th, 2017, 8:03 am**

I wonder how much could be assembled along the Blue Line, between Franklin Ave and Minnehaha Parkway. A long, skinny campus?

Posted: **September 28th, 2017, 8:50 am**

DT St. Paul seems like the hands-down winner to me since they could basically mesh their HQ on top of the existing infrastructure and building stock.

Right? That and they'd have a corporate airport right in their backyard as well as the international airport within their requested distance.

Posted: **September 28th, 2017, 3:37 pm**

Yeah, and in my dream world all Amazon would want would be some site assembly assistance and a restart of Riverview as light rail to the airport.

Posted: **October 7th, 2017, 11:05 am**

Amazon Is Headed for the Prescription-Drug Market, Analysts Say
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles ... rket-entry

Posted: **October 9th, 2017, 9:28 am**

Once you say it, it's kind of hard to believe they haven't been there already. No reason they can't do mail order drugs better than the drug benefit managers.

Posted: **October 9th, 2017, 9:45 am**

Agreed, it would seem like a natural extension for them.

But given all of the trouble with opioids and whatnot, the prospect of drugs getting dropped on people's front stoops seems a little problematic.

Posted: **October 9th, 2017, 9:56 am**

Lots of drugs are already being delivered in the mail, but not all. I'd guess there are rules against dropping off controlled substances.

Posted: **October 9th, 2017, 11:33 am**

Random fact: The daughter of one of my colleagues was recently kicked out of prep school for trying to order a bottle of wine off Amazon. They must card you upon delivery, or something.

Posted: **October 9th, 2017, 11:49 am**

They do. A friend of mine ordered some beer, and the delivery guy apparently took a long, long time to figure out how to scan his DL into the phone.

Posted: **October 11th, 2017, 12:57 pm**

A look at the subsidies Amazon has been racking up around the country.

https://www.bizjournals.com/twincities/ ... ffect.html

Posted: **October 11th, 2017, 9:46 pm**

And people talk about sports stadiums holding cities hostage.

Posted: **October 17th, 2017, 2:32 pm**

Minnesota's proposal "modest." So fitting!

http://www.startribune.com/state-plans- ... 451313313/

Posted: **October 17th, 2017, 11:28 pm**

Good! Who wants to put down >$7B for this?

Posted: **October 18th, 2017, 7:05 am**

Good! Who wants to put down >$7B for this?

Suckers and the desperate. We're not the latter and I don't want us to be the former.

Posted: **October 18th, 2017, 7:23 am**

How long does it take to recover $7B in taxes? Someone have a hypothetical?

Posted: **October 18th, 2017, 8:30 am**

How long does it take to recover $7B in taxes? Someone have a hypothetical?

I'm not too proud to quote myself:

Some quick back of the envelope math:

If we take them at their word that they really will be employing 50,000 employees at $100,000 average salary, and if we figure an effective state income tax rate of 4%, that is $200m per year of new income tax in the state's coffers. That does not include the additional sales tax that these employees would pay, or the additional property tax that the campus would generate. And it certainly does not include the spin-off economic benefits of such a campus and all of the well-paid employees, which would be vast. So, I don't know what the right amount of subsidy would be to lure a project like this, but there's a staggering amount of money at play

urbanMSP

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