Amazon

[BKDotCom]

http://www.tulsaworld.com/ap/national/mayor-g-t-bynum-on-amazon-s-search-for-new/article_732029d7-11a7-5d95-9077-f5f150056be1.html

Bynum spoke to the Tulsa World on Thursday morning, saying leaders are "very much pursuing" getting Tulsa named as the next Amazon headquarters.

I'd say the odds of this are far better than Tulsa landing the Olympics (which has a 0% chance).

[Townsend]

Well considering all that Oklahoma has to offer...it's a can't miss

Edited to say, as long as he doesn't waste too much of his time, good for Bynum for reaching for the stars.

[erfalf]

I assume he is courting them for Amazon's 2nd HQ. They will not be leaving Seattle, at least they are not planning on it. So I figure that helps Tulsa's case.

So let's see which state can hore itself up the most to get those 50,000 jobs they are promising.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-amazon-com-headquarters/amazon-scouts-for-second-headquarters-with-5-billion-price-tag-idUSKCN1BI1DM

The largest e-commerce company said it intended to create a headquarters that would be as important as its Seattle base. It wants a city of more than a million people with an international airport, good education and mass transit.

So my guess is Dallas.

[BKDotCom]

  It wants a city of more than a million people

Strictly speaking, that's a short list of 10.
Must be referring to "metro populations"?

[Hoss]

Strictly speaking, that's a short list of 10.
Must be referring to "metro populations"?

Tulsa would barely fit that as our metro just exceeded that number in the last two years or so.  It also depends on what you consider "Metro".

[BKDotCom]

Amazon and QT could team up to take over the skies with drone-delivered roller dogs and
Amazon lockers on every corner

[cannon_fodder]

This is an amazing article on what Amazon has done to Seattle:
http://www.seattletimes.com/business/amazon/thanks-to-amazon-seattle-is-now-americas-biggest-company-town/

Truly astonishing:

8,100,000 square feet of office space (and building to hit 12 mil).   Occupies more office space than the next 40 largest Seattle employers combined.
- for comparison, City PLex total 2.2 million, BOK tower is 1.1 million feet, Williams I & II together are about 800k, First Place tower is 621k, 110 W. 7th is 522K, Warren place is 470k and 490k, 420k in the MId Con. Tower,  310 S.boston is 400k, BOA Tower is 288K.  So that's 7,311,000 square feet.  Lets throw in Devon Tower at 1.8mil...finally, we've added more space than Amazon currently occupies in Seattle.

40,000 current employees in Seattle, planning for 55,000 by 2020.

Really, it seems likely they need a second HQ because Seattle isn't big enough to support all of their needs for either infrastructure or manpower.


I highly doubt we can lure Amazon and I'm afraid it would be hard to support them if they came.  But I really do think a regional hub would be an awesome fit for Tulsa.  There are surely talented IT employees who would appreciate a smaller city with lots of character and a reasonable cost of living.  But I'm afraid the deck is stacked against us, notably in education.  But we may as well shoot the moon...just don't bet too big on landing. 

[SXSW]

This is the "short list" according to Market Watch:

[TulsaGoldenHurriCAN]

Amazon and QT could team up to take over the skies with drone-delivered roller dogs and
Amazon lockers on every corner

Yes, please deliver them right into my gullet!

[DowntownDan]

My guess is it'll be Austin.  I like that Bynum will at least give it a pitch though.

[TulsaBeMore]

I don't get the "shooting for the kneecaps" instead of stars mentality of a lot of Tulsans.  Dare to dream.  Tulsa w/ Stillwater/OKC/Norman would be an ideal site for a summer Olympics. The theme would be "Native America" - the opening ceremony would be unforgettable. Atlanta's Olympics was spread out over a wider land area than an all-Oklahoma Olympics would be.  It seems like a lot of people who live here go on vacation to Colorado or have 2nd homes elsewhere and are happy to keep Tulsa as it is. Cozy and comfortable.  Why shouldn't we think we can do a hell of a lot more. Low self-esteem? Everybody thought Atlanta was a non-starter when some dedicated people who wouldn't take no for an answer made it happen.  If not for the 3 mayors of OKC plus Nichols, McClendon and a few others, nothing would have happened there probably.  I'll bet if Amazon was to build a massive facility here, we'd have international air travel. Too much thinking small here.  Shoot as high as possible and then maybe you'll get something better than shooting for the kneecaps.   

[cbs]

Shoot for the stars! (Not a black hole like the Olympics bid)

I would be okay with Tulsa selling it's soul to land Amazon.

It's unlikely, but if any mayor in the past 2 decades could do it GT could.

[sgrizzle]

They basically listed 10 cities where no amazon employee would be able to own a home within an hour of the office.

[erfalf]

Yeah, I agree, selling your sole for Amazon would have an infinitely better return than the Olympics could ever return.

[AdamsHall]

I don't get the "shooting for the kneecaps" instead of stars mentality of a lot of Tulsans.  Dare to dream.  Tulsa w/ Stillwater/OKC/Norman would be an ideal site for a summer Olympics. The theme would be "Native America" - the opening ceremony would be unforgettable. Atlanta's Olympics was spread out over a wider land area than an all-Oklahoma Olympics would be.  It seems like a lot of people who live here go on vacation to Colorado or have 2nd homes elsewhere and are happy to keep Tulsa as it is. Cozy and comfortable.  Why shouldn't we think we can do a hell of a lot more. Low self-esteem? Everybody thought Atlanta was a non-starter when some dedicated people who wouldn't take no for an answer made it happen.  If not for the 3 mayors of OKC plus Nichols, McClendon and a few others, nothing would have happened there probably.  I'll bet if Amazon was to build a massive facility here, we'd have international air travel. Too much thinking small here.  Shoot as high as possible and then maybe you'll get something better than shooting for the kneecaps.   

Good post.  I suspect Tulsa would be a long-shot here, but sometimes you learn a lot by shooting for the stars.  Indeed, losing a large air maintenance base is what set Ron Norick, et al, in motion in OKC.