Amazon's 2nd Headquarter in Atlanta? Sure Thing, They Are Saying.

Update: They were wrong. Amazon will have 2 East Coast HQs, but not in Atlanta. Sorry.

 

The billion dollar decision as to where Amazon will build its "2nd headquarters' has been the subject of much speculation and consternation.  But if you want to know something big is going to happen, you listen to architects and engineers. So says my Uber driver as he takes me from Atlanta-Hartsfield airport to Braselton after he finds out what I do for a living. It's an hour ride and we have lots of time to talk. 

 

He is convinced Amazon will be building their 2nd headquarters in Atlanta. Amazonians are buying property, renting apartments and lining up private schools for their kids, he says. 

 

Schools for their kids?? That was how people knew LeBron was coming to LA. My Uber driver may have delivered.

 

Later, as I leave a restaurant in Braselton, I notice one table full of guys. A couple of them have shirts with Amazon logos.

 

 

Atlanta does make indeed make sense on several levels. It is major airline hub so the first part of the trip to HQ2 will an easy non-stop flight from the West Coast.  But the rest of the trip may take just as long. As I sit in traffic (Atlanta's beltways are said to be as clogged as Washington DC's) I wonder if traffic congestion has been taken into account. Amazonians in the suburbs going to downtown offices are going to have a hell of a time.