The Aftermath of the Amazon Prime NY Pull-out and South Florida

With the recent news that Amazon cancelled its plan to build its new campus in New York City,  and the most recent announcement that Amazon does not intend to reopen its search at the current time, we are all most of us wondering where Amazon will eventually  choose its second headquarters.

In fact, ads have appeared attempting to lure Amazon to the Sunshine State.  Here is one from this past week’s Wall Street Journal:

 

As we had indicated in an earlier blog, South Florida cities vied with many other cities across North America for the Prime location. Miami was one of the finalists, with Miami -Dade County pointing to our connection with Latin America and the Caribbean and proposed eight sites to Amazon:  five in Miami-Dade, two in Broward, and one in Palm Beach.

While political reasons were cited as a potential reason for Amazon’s pull-out decision, the question as to when Amazon eventually chooses a new corporate campus remains.

Is South Florida a “Prime” Location?

Should Amazon choose Miami, the excitement of the creation of nearly 50,000 full-time workers will be a boom to the local economy.  Yet, with the boom, issues concerning home prices and costs of living to current and future residents remain.  An escalation of rent, home prices, and traffic congestion are issues which are to be considered.

Regardless of the Prime Location, what about the data?

When Amazon had first searched for a new second headquarter, it received 238 proposals from cities and regions across North America.  These proposals contained critical and sensitive information about the demographics about each community.

Now, that Amazon has this information, moving forward, Amazon can understand and plan accordingly because it has key information about each of the 238 communities’ demographics which is probably to them more valuable than actually building a new headquarters.

From the trenches,

Roy D. Oppenheim