Montgomery County is our prediction for Amazon’s next HQ location. Now let us tell you why…

It’s like winning the lottery. Each city holding their ticket, dreaming of the billions of dollars that will flow in and out while their state roots them on like a Toddler and Tiara’s helicopter mom. We did the same thing. When we heard that Denver made the Amazon HQ2-site short list, for all of two seconds we were like, “do you realize what this means?”

TimeHoodie is a digital marketing agency + website design company located in Denver, Colorado and most people in Denver would think that Amazon landing here would be like going out to check the mail and running into Chris Pratt and Anna Faris. Chris says, “hey, Anna and I are getting back together. We’re going to make it work. We just moved in next door.” As you go on to check your mail, you find an AMEX Black Card because AMEX gave it to you in advance for all the money you’re going to make. Isn’t that great? Except, it’s not.

Yes, we’d love it if Amazon HQ’d here. But as the ink on the marriage papers was still drying – housing costs would increase, traffic would get worse, the ski resorts will become even more crowded and expensive… and Denver is already in full throttle mode with all of that. Adding Amazon into the mix would be like giving growth hormones to the 6-ft-tall, 7th grade kid who is already wearing a doctor’s-ordered back brace.

When looking through the list of finalists, you will immediately recognize that only ONE location was PST: Los Angeles; and only ONE location was MST: Denver. This means that Amazon is intentionally looking at the east coast or midwest and these 2 cities being included were the obligatory, “let’s make sure at least ONE city from each time zone is represented. We want EVERYone talking about this!” Everyone?

There were only FIVE of the final 20 that were CST: Dallas, Austin, Chicago, Nashville, and Columbus. If you look at these individually, you will see that each has an Achilles heel: Dallas already has a 920,000 sq. ft. Amazon fulfillment center, Chicago will be a challenge to build a custom campus to the scale that Amazon needs, Toronto has citizenship logistic considerations for recruiting, etc.

THIRTEEN of the 20 finalists were EST. Meaning, there is a 65% chance AHQ2 will land on the east coast. Why? What’s the USP for the East Coast? D.C. That’s it.

Washington D.C. is the USP to the east coast. D.C. and all the associated opportunities for political networking, influencing, and lobbying required to make sure that Amazon receives favorable regulations and guidelines related to everything from Drone delivery, self-driving deliveries and drop offs, privacy laws associated with Alexa and A.I., tax implications, etc.

Now that we know that D.C. is the 300 lb gorilla in the room, it makes it easy to cross off Atlanta, Miami, Raleigh, and Boston for lack of easy, physical access. We get that you can fly a few people here and there within a few hours, if you get into a rhythm, but the reality is you can’t beat boots on ground within a reasonable drive when it comes to D.C. entertaining, dining, martini lunching, networking, etc.

The only real considerations left for reasonable physical D.C. access, outside of D.C. itself and neighboring areas, are New York, Newark, Pittsburgh, and Philadelphia; and nobody is putting a Tech campus like Amazon needs from, a culture standpoint, that fits the West Coast or Silicon Valley model in New York, Newark, Pittsburgh, or Philly. The footprint is too specific to be cost-effective. Lots of concessions would have to be made, palms greased, politics played… it would be a mess. Amazon already knows what it’s like dealing with a major city like Seattle and all it’s politics, traffic, crowding, etc.

Let’s break this down in terms of logistics:

• Amazon’s campus will cost $5b – that’s more than the annual GDP for Fiji. Literally.
• Approximately 50,000 employees will work on campus – that’s more than the population of Annapolis, Maryland.

If Amazon picks the right location, Amazon will literally own that city. If it picks the right city, it will own the state. (Oh, speaking of Annapolis, that just happens to be the capital of Maryland).

Let’s take a look at Montgomery county. Notice how the Northwest surrounding area has a notable lack of overdevelopment? The Potomac River creates a natural barrier for the south and west side, 270 provides direct access straight to the city, and during off-peak hours D.C. would be a little more than a half hour drive.

Let’s not forget that Jeff Bezos over the years has demonstrated long-term interests in Washington – from purchasing the Washington Post in 2013 to buying the biggest house in Washington D.C. in January of 2017 (a $23 million, 27,000 sq. ft., single family home complete with President Obama and Ivanka Trump/Jared Kushner as his neighbors…).

By making Montgomery County AHQ2, Amazon will secure the space and ability to make their new campus exactly the way they want it, draw from the New York and greater east coast talent pool for hiring, provide affordable living, and without question own not just an entire city, but the entire state.

That’s our official 2 cents. Spend it anywhere they accept opinions as cash.