Amazon HQ2 in LIC? Yay or Nay?

[JHMNY]

New York City officials are excited about the City's bid to bring Amazon's second headquarters to town.  According to the Times article below, Long Island City is one of the proposed neighborhoods to house HQ2.  From the list of Amazon's criteria for consideration, Long Island City is in close proximity to airports and public transportation. 

What are the options for public transportation in LIC?  How will this impact an already densely populated train system?  How will the proposed 50,000 new job openings impact Queens west?  If this proposal becomes reality, and LIC is chosen to be HQ2's new home, there's major change to look forward to...  yay or nay?
 
From the New York Times:

In Amazon Bid, New York Brags About, Well, Everything

[missmarty]

Willets Point!!
Rail yards, ships, airport and it's the proper space. Plus, an incredibly hard working and local work force.
I've not heard it mentioned publicly yet but it seems like a no brainer to me.

[JH3525]

Amazon is looking for a second HQ's not a distribution center.  Being near airports and public transportation is not important.  I can't think of a worst place for a second HQ's that will house employees earning $100,000 a year than NYC where employees will have to pay three income taxes (Federal, State & City) and an extremely high housing costs.  An $100,000 a year salary would mean living in Queens, Bronx or Staten Island.  A better option would be a State with no income tax such as Florida or Texas and these state have housing costs significantly less than NYC.  With a $100,000 a year income, I'll would much prefer living in Austin, Texas than Jackson Heights. 

[N00b]

Why would you want to live in Austin over JH?

If Amazon opens in LIC, I am sure a WeLive will follow for "affordable" housing of the type that tech people like.

[theplanesland]

Why would you want to live in Austin over JH?

If Amazon opens in LIC, I am sure a WeLive will follow for "affordable" housing of the type that tech people like.

Many of these staffers will be executives with families - not all young - and they'll have to make long commutes to find affordable housing.

This is an epically bad idea. We simply don't have the housing for the additional jobs of this magnitude, and nobody's building enough reasonably priced housing. What's our vacancy rate like, 1%? I think a place like Pittsburgh or Dallas, where people can afford homes, would be more appropriate.

We need more apartment buildings with reasonably priced places to live before we need more giant corporate HQs bringing people in.

[amsci]

The downtown area has a pronounced homeless problem, but overall I thought Austin was cool. Some of the surrounding areas seemed like nice places to live.

My husband and I are both native NYers and at this point the only things keeping us here are our families and our jobs. Hell, my parents and my sister's family are moving out of NY soon anyway.

To theplanesland's point, we'd both consider moving to another "less cool" city if we came across good opportunities, and we don't even have (or want) children.  It's not like NYC has a monopoly on culture and good food.

Why would you want to live in Austin over JH?

If Amazon opens in LIC, I am sure a WeLive will follow for "affordable" housing of the type that tech people like.

[Lilybell]

I think they will choose a much smaller city, like denver. However, I was able to see the city's newly finished pitch book at work yesterday and it's really well done.

[sl]

It's definitely  good news for software engineers and IT professionals like me.

[abcdefghijk]

Yay.

No contest.

You're either in New York or you're in nowhere-ville.

[llh]

I'm a Software Engineer and personally I'm not a fan of Amazon putting its 2nd HQ in LIC (and Amazon as a company itself, see https://sites.google.com/site/thefaceofamazon/ for reference). It'll create an adverse effect on housing market that's already over-populated and unaffordable and being in tech myself, the culture is neither good nor diverse. Boston might be better (close proximity to MIT/Harvard, although that's not a problem for 1st HQ I don't see it being a plus for 2nd). Big tech salary is rarely geo-adjusted (except internationally) so they get paid the same whether here or Nebraska. If Amazon thinks they have a better chance recruiting in NYC then they're wrong. Amazon already has an office on 34th & 6th and they already have trouble recruiting.

[JH3525]

For those who are not aware, Amazon recently announced that they are building a Fulfillment/Distribution Center in the Western Section of Staten Island.  The 855,000 SF center will cost $100 Million Dollars and provide jobs for 2,250 local residents.  The center will service the entire NYC, Westchester & parts of New Jersey. 

[missmarty]

For a cool million one could buy a gorgeous home in Elmhurst and spend half as much renovating it. It's an idyllic neighborhood and commute for techies. Could rival Ditmars Park. Instead, historical homes are being torn down and families leave the city in droves.

[JHMNY]

The article cites housing development in LIC, but how much of it is geared for family lifestyles?  I have friends currently renting an apartment on Center Blvd. in LIC.  They've made the decision to purchase in a more family friendly neighborhood in Brooklyn.  I'm sure there are plenty of young and older professionals with similar mindsets.  If Amazon does land in Queens, I'd expect to see a lot of change to accommodate what's lacking.

[JH3525]

They just announced on CNBC Business News (Channel 15) that Amazon has received 238 Proposals for Amazon HQ2.  I'm shocked at this number of proposals. 

[theplanesland]

They just announced on CNBC Business News (Channel 15) that Amazon has received 238 Proposals for Amazon HQ2.  I'm shocked at this number of proposals.

I'm not. There are a lot of places in the country that have more houses than jobs. We're just lucky enough to live in one of the few where it's the other way around.