BG Note | News - What We're Reading (September 8, 2017)
Amazon is looking for a 2nd headquarter city, a ‘full equal to Seattle’ (Tech Crunch) LINK TO STORY
Amazon has made a name for itself as a giant in e-commerce, logistics and cloud services both for businesses and consumers. Now it’s embarking on a big move to expand its corporate presence, too. Today the company announced that it is opening a search for a city in North America to make its second headquarters, envisioned as a “full equal” to Amazon’s existing home in Seattle, Washington.
At full-capacity, the site would be expected to be of similar, or even bigger, size to the Seattle operation, which today is a major cornerstone of Seattle’s business life, employing 40,000 people, covering 8.1 million square feet with 33 buildings including 24 restaurants. HQ2, as Amazon is calling the new headquarters, is expected to employ 50,000 and will get $5 billion in investment, the company said.
Chamber chief: Austin will go after Amazon’s $5 billion ‘second headquarters’ (Austin American-Statesman) LINK TO STORY
Internet giant Amazon.com is in the market for a location for a second headquarters that it plans to build away from its Seattle hometown, and Austin economic development leaders say they want to lure it to Central Texas.
Mike Rollins, president and CEO of the Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce, told the American-Statesman that city officials would make a bid to win what’s expected to be a huge Amazon complex.
Amazon announced its plans early Thursday and asked interested cities and regions to prepare and submit proposals. The proposals are due by Oct. 19, and the winning location will be announced next year, the company said.
“Definitely we want to compete, and compete hard and would like to win,” Rollins said. “We feel like we have a great case to make, if we’re fortunate enough to be selected to make our case.”
Council members concerned about fees for ADUs (Austin Monitor) LINK TO STORY
Council Member Delia Garza is worried that proposed increases in building fees are going to hit middle-income homeowners who are seeking to build accessory dwelling units the hardest.
At a Thursday City Council meeting over the proposed budget for the upcoming fiscal year, Garza pressed the head of the Development Services Department on the fee increases, suggesting that they either might not be necessary or could be redesigned to spare some of the lower-budget projects.
5 things to know about the ‘fast-approaching’ MoPac opening (Community Impact) LINK TO STORY
The full opening of the MoPac express lanes is still a couple months out, but the Central Texas toll agency anticipates opening the entire northbound lane later this month.
Here are 5 things to know about the opening from Wednesday’s Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority board meeting...