Maybe Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos is simply looking for a commercial real estate bargain.
Maybe Amazon’s very public search for a second company headquarters is a bit of corporate grandstanding.
Maybe the man who helped change the way we shop is actually seeking new ways for corporations and their workers to do business.
But let’s give Bezos credit for one thing he’s already accomplished in his quest for a home for “HQ2,” which would mirror the company’s Seattle corporate hub.
Folks are now playing nice, talking up their hometown communities.
This very public bidding process has forced civic leaders and corporate bosses across the nation to turn on the sales charm. For the time being, many of these luminaries are selling what’s good about their respective regions compared with what has become too frequently a chorus of what’s wrong.
The change in tone was not lost on developer on Emile Haddad, chief executive of Irvine-based FivePoint Communities. He thinks, win or lose, there’s a bright side for everybody in the competition for Amazon: Reasoned discussion about economic opportunity.
“It’s nice to see the focus on the positive rather than the usual noise,” he says.
Haddad is keenly watching how the Amazon bidding pays out. And not just as boss of a major California landowner.
He thinks Amazon could be a force in rethinking how companies work with its second campus.
Amazon’s request for location bids isn’t just about the cost of facilities, doing business and staff. The proposal also speaks to a region’s quality of life and willingness to think differently. Why else request data on walkability and bike lanes, for instance?
Haddad doesn’t see Amazon creating “just buildings hosting warm bodies; this space will be disruptive.”
And if the retailing giant from Seattle is willing to consider a second West Coast home, and is serious about considering more than expenses, Haddad thinks California is a winner.
Look, the veteran developer knows the state’s strengths — and weaknesses — but he consistently applauds California’s lifestyle and business opportunities, warts and all.
“Where else would a company go if they want to attract the 50,000 best people in the world?” he says.
Now, the typically high-profile Haddad has taken a relatively low profile amid the nationwide scramble to win HQ2. Meeting Amazon’s wishlist puts Haddad in a tough spot, sort of like asking a parent which is his or her favorite child.
He applauds the in-state wooing of Amazon, heaping praise of the bid work done by his company’s rival, the Irvine Co. and owner Donald Bren. One wonders if Irvine Co. and FivePoint could end up partners in an Orange County bid. FivePoint is also supporting efforts in Los Angeles and in the Bay Area.
You see, Haddad’s FivePoint controls California land that could help satisfy Amazon’s need to eventually house — to work and to live — as many as 50,000 workers in 8 million square feet of offices … in three different places in California.
At the Great Park Neighborhoods in Irvine, FivePoint has the rights to build roughly 6,000 more homes and roughly 4 million square feet of commercial space.
Then there’s Newhall Ranch in northern Los Angeles County with 21,500 homesites and 11.5 million square feet of commercial space to be built out that could satisfy Amazon’s walk-to-work mantra.
In the Bay Area, FivePoint controls the development of the old San Francisco Shipyard and Candlestick Point with 12,000 homesites and a potential for 4.1 million square feet of commercial buildings.
But unlike other development wars where FivePoint was a key actor, so far Haddad seems to be willing to accept a supporting role in the battle for Amazon.
“Of course we’re interested,” Haddad says. “We stand ready to do whatever it takes.”
