Amazon has triggered a $5 billion bidding war — here are the craziest proposals for its new headquarters

http://ift.tt/2idVT6c

Shop/West 8

After Amazon announced in September that it will build a second headquarters in an undetermined location, more than 50 North American cities concocted bids to persuade the company to choose them.

The company’s new campus, called HQ2, will bring 50,000 new jobs. Amazon will invest $5 billion in its construction, making the offer one of the largest corporate-civic opportunities in recent American history.

Proposals are not due until October 19, but many cities have already disclosed their plans to woo Amazon. And some are more extreme than others.

Here are a few of the most out-there bids.

Dallas, Texas — A development that would surround a proposed station for a $15 billion bullet train

Texas Central Rail Co.

Developers from firms Matthews Southwest and Texas Central Partners are pitching a transit-oriented development for Amazon’s HQ2 campus, according to Dallas Business Journal. It would surround a proposed station for a bullet train, which Dallas magazine reports is expected to cost $15 billion. Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner has formally expressed support for the train plan, which will likely happen with or without Amazon.

If fully approved by the city, the 240-mile line would transport passengers from Houston to Dallas in 90 minutes. Developers hope to start construction on the development by late 2018.

Dallas, Texas — The site of a former (nearly dead) shopping mall

Dallas Midtown

One of the more telling proposals comes from three Dallas developers, who want Amazon — the e-commerce giant that pioneered the growth of online shopping — to move into the old site of the Valley View Mall.

Local outlet Dallas News reports that the proposal calls for the construction of a 500,000-square-foot office building, which would be a part of a larger 430-acre district.

The building’s parking garage was demolished this summer, and now only a theater, a few art galleries, some pizza joints, and a smoothie shop remain.

Phoenix, Arizona — A proposal to move inside a renovated version of the city’s first shopping mall

Plaza Companies and Holualoa Companies

There seems to be a trend of cities proposing dilapidated shopping malls as the site for HQ2. Phoenix officials will likely pitch Park Central Mall to Amazon, according to multiple sources who spoke with the Phoenix Business Journal.

Park Central was the city’s first mall when it opened in the 1950s. The mall’s clothing stores shut down several years ago, and today, there is just a Starbucks, a few restaurants, offices, and a data center.

See the rest of the story at Business Insider

business

via Business Insider http://ift.tt/eKERsB