One of the key people from Austin who put their bid together thinks that Pittsburgh or Baltimore will beat them out. God, I really hope so, what a change for this region.
'Outside analysis of contender cities has put Austin among a dozen or so likely winners, but the city’s lack of a comprehensive mass transit system is seen as its biggest weak spot.
Ryan Bohls, managing director of the real estate services firm Newmark Knight Frank, said transportation issues and a widely acknowledged as slow approval process for building permits are likely to cause Austin to lose out when the winning city is announced next year. Bohls told the
Austin Monitor that he spent 16 months helping to negotiate Amazon’s 78,000-square-foot location at the Domain and that the city’s slow approval process for building improvements and finish-out caused a six-month delay on the company’s move-in date.
“A wait like that is not something that factors in well for them, and one of the things they think about is the time to get into the facility,” Bohls said. “There’s already a limited amount of permitting staff and this is going to go from 500,000 to eventually 8 million square feet. The current staff couldn’t handle that without causing substantial delays on all other projects.”
Bohls expects either Baltimore or Pittsburgh to beat out Austin in the selection, but said Austin leaders should begin examining the city’s infrastructure shortcomings to prepare for other potentially large economic development opportunities in the future.'
Leaders say Austin's Amazon hopes hang on transit, permitting issues - Austin Monitor
