Giving Compass' Take:

• As Amazon considers making Washington D.C. it's headquarters, Brookings examines the benefits and potential downsides of setting up shop in that city. 

•  Will Amazon take into consideration the disruption it will cause to the existing communities when moving to a new city?

• Read about the five lessons big cities can learn from the Amazon HQ2 search. 

The biggest news in economic development in the past year has been the bidding war among cities and counties in response to Amazon’s announcement that it is seeking a location for a second headquarters (dubbed HQ2) which would employ up to 50,000 workers with an average annual compensation over $100,000.

As the countdown to a final decision continues, it’s worth thinking about the impact—both positive and negative—if Amazon were to select the District proper.

A newspaper columnist in Seattle, the home of HQ1, coined the term “prosperity bomb” when reflecting on the upsides and downsides of the company’s presence.

Washington, D.C. is a city with significant assets, enough to make us a serious contender for Amazon: an educated workforce, good schools (if you can afford to buy a house in the right neighborhood or know how navigate the system), renowned colleges and universities, and extensive public transportation and walkable communities.

The city’s HQ2 proposal is heavily redacted, so details are scarce, but it does offer some clues on potential areas of impact:

  • Employment. Low-income residents would likely not find many jobs at HQ2, most of which will require at least a bachelor’s degree.
  • Education and training. The city says it would create an “Amazon University,” described as a “customized education and training center for Amazon that leverages the talent of D.C.’s residents and universities at D.C. government’s expense,” with “customized educational curriculum for bachelor’s, master’s and executive education as well as training and workforce development programs.”
  • Housing. The most immediate impact of HQ2 for non-college-educated residents would most likely be higher housing costs due to increased demand from the influx of new workers.

Read the full article about Amazon HQ2 by Martha Ross at Brookings