The Boston area has made the shortlist of possible sites for Amazon’s second headquarters (yay?).
The e-commerce giant, which is expected to pick a winning bid before the end of 2018, has said it wants to build to 8 million square feet for 50,000 employees.
Here are the six likeliest spots it could do that in the Boston area.
Suffolk Downs
The old 161-acre racetrack in East Boston is the City of Boston’s preferred site, and the racetrack’s owner is pretty much hedging its redevelopment of the space on whether Amazon relocates there.
There’s that space, for one thing. Amazon wants to eventually employ 50,000 people at its second headquarters, so it will need room to grow.
There are also two nearby Blue Line stops, and Logan Airport is in the neighborhood. Amazon has said that both built-in public transportation and quick access to an international airport are among its top criteria for a second HQ.
Widett Circle
Boston Mayor Marty Walsh has long wanted to turn the 83-acre collection of warehouses and rail yards in South Boston into a new neighborhood all its own (and some wanted to turn it into Olympic Village, remember that?).
As the Globe’s Tim Logan noted, such a neighborhood-from-scratch would require a major business tenant. Enter Amazon.
Beacon Park Yard
Harvard University owns the 22-acre rail yard in Allston, which was shuttered in 2013.
It’s right off the Turnpike, but adrift from the T. (Again, Amazon has said access to public transit is one of its selection criteria.) Still, there’s that size.
Around South Station
Boston has pitched not only a planned tower atop New England’s busiest transit hub for an Amazon headquarters, but parcels around South Station as well.
This is probably the least likeliest of the city’s ideas to ever come to fruition given the kind of space the e-retailer wants—though the area is no stranger to corporate HQs.
Wonderland Greyhound Park
This 38-acre former dog-racing palace in Revere checks a lot of Amazon’s boxes, given its proximity to Logan and its nearness to the Blue Line (never mind the sheer size).
Along the Orange Line
This is the most interesting possible site for Amazon in that it’s not a single site at all, but a proposal that Somerville Mayor Joe Curtatone put forward: Host the e-retailer on several parcels in five cities along or near the Orange Line.
The cities would include Somerville, of course, but also Cambridge, Boston, Everett, and Chelsea.
The idea is simple: As Curtatone put it, the region needs to “break out” of its provincialism and realize that it’s a densely packed region of dozens of municipalities that, for most people, bleed into one another (hence why a lot of folks simply say “Boston” when asked where they live or where they’re from).
Several sites along a public transit route would also allow for the scope Amazon is hoping for in its new HQ. Stay tuned.
- Amazon picks the Boston area as one of 20 finalists to host second headquarters [Curbed Boston]
- Boston’s Amazon bid hinges on Suffolk Downs [Curbed Boston]
- Suffolk Downs redevelopment could go one of two ways [Curbed Boston]
- 18 renderings and maps to explain the Boston Olympics [Curbed Boston]
- Boston’s South Station: The ultimate guide [Curbed Boston]
- South Station tower takes big steps toward early 2017 groundbreaking [Curbed Boston]
- General Electric pushes back opening of Fort Point building to 2021 [Curbed Boston]
- Somerville’s Amazon pitch imagines multiple sites along the Orange Line [Curbed Boston]
- Massachusetts’ Amazon bids: Shouldn’t everyone be working together? [Curbed Boston]
- How close do you have to be to Boston to say you’re from Boston? [Curbed Boston]
- Boston and Amazon: City is reportedly the frontrunner for new HQ [Curbed Boston]
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