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Comment by basseq | Hacker News Reader

I'm skeptical at the choice of Crystal City. (Sorry, that's where it is, call it what you want.) I think being "urban" mattered a lot to them, and Crystal City has the most opportunity for a significant tenant to move in.

But that "opportunity" is there because it's a secondary or tertiary choice for employers. Considering that 70%+ people are commuters, a) there are more desirable locations no matter where you're coming from, and b) there's no direct way to get there, other than Route 1, which is going to be a disaster.

No major highways or arteries, Metro goes through Arlington first, etc.

If you live in DC, you have to leave the city. If you live to the west, you'd prefer Dulles, Tysons, or Arlington. If you're to the south, it's Alexandria. To the north, Bethesda. To the west... probably Baltimore, or you have to drive all the way through DC.

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I would imagine they are thinking longer term than you are. Crystal City is 3 Metro stops from downtown DC, 10 or 15 minutes, but still has room for Amazon to build and rebuild in their image. It has no culture or community, it's a blank slate. They can move in now easily, build their own buildings and remake the area within 5 years. There is room for housing as many of their employees within 3 metro stops/15 minute bus ride as might wish to live there.

They could have gone to Dulles and had a blank slate to build on, but they don't think their employees and prospective employees want to live there. It's at least an hour from downtown during rush hour. It's an exurb, and Amazon does not see that as the future.

With some infrastructure upgrades, they could merge the VRE and MARC routes to have regional rail that runs through DC between Maryland and Virginia. Crystal City already has a VRE station, so this could enable relatively painless commutes from as far away as Manassas, Fredericksburg, Rockville, and even Baltimore.

However, there are major organizational and political hurdles that would have to be tackled to put any new infrastructure to effective use, so I wouldn't hold my breath. But maybe Amazon's choice of location could spur things in the right direction.

Agreed, Crystal City is a terrible choice if you are trying to attract talent in the DMV. Who wants to make that commute? Not sure why they didn't choose Dulles - more space, new metro infrastructure, Dulles airport access and existing AWS offices and data centers.

>Not sure why they didn't choose Dulles

Dulles is no better of a commute for most people in the DMV, especially those that want to live within the DC/Arlington area.

Well, there is no good commute in the DMV for one, but Dulles/Herndon/Tysons at least has new metro stops and more highway infrastructure than to Crystal City. Plus, Google, Oracle, Microsoft, AWS, et al are all already off the Dulles toll road. If you are in tech, there is a high probability you are headed out that direction anyway.

But it’s not next to the pentagon.

Honestly a ferry across the Potomac could make a lot of sense if it runs frequently enough. Could be a release valve for a lot of that Metro congestion, and otherwise the 14th St bridge would be nightmarish for 4+ hours a day.

There's really nowhere for a ferry to dock that would be close enough to the proposed office locations for people to walk.

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