Michael Gerard
Marketing Director
GRS Group
(949) 272-0022
[email protected]
Two of the country’s largest tech companies are looking for a home for their second headquarters, and both have gotten a lot of coverage as of late, though neither corporation has made an official announcement on a decision.
Both Amazon and Apple will spend billions on their second headquarters.
Let’s start with Amazon, and its very public campaign to build its second headquarters, dubbed HQ2, which will reportedly create 50,000 jobs, cost $5 billion to build and arguably create a slew of ancillary commercial real estate development around the project.
The company now has a list of 20 cities it is choosing for the HQ2. There is no lack of speculation, much of it legitimate, on where Amazon will choose to end up out of the several finalists. However, Vegas has its odds for potential bettors on Northern Virginia.
By contrast, Apple has been more private about where it is putting its large campus outside of the Silicon Valley. It’s CEO Tim Cook even went as far as to criticize Amazon’s public search for a second headquarters.
Wherever it decides to land, Apple’s new facility is part of its plan to hire 20,000 new workers over the next five years and spend as much as $30 billion in growth. The new headquarters would reportedly be a big part of that plan.
Despite the criticism from Cook, it seems as though the two tech giants have shortlisted some of the same locations for their expansion plans – Raleigh, N.C.; and Northern Virginia, close to Washington, D.C. Both made Amazon’s list, and rumors are that Apple executives have met with leading governmental officials in both areas.
It’s an understatement to say that if both firms choose the same locale, it would be a huge thing for either local economy, especially the local commercial real estate markets. Every sector, from office and multifamily, to retail and industrial and hospitality, will get a steroid-like boost from the presence of these giants. And both are already strong in all categories. Also, keep in mind that so much ancillary business will follow to be near both companies.
Time will tell where they end up, but a combination of both campuses in the same metro area would certainly lead to a new tech Mecca closer to the East Coast. Stay tuned to see what finally transpires!
About GRS Group:
GRS Group is a leading provider of commercial real estate (“CRE”) services worldwide. With offices across the United States, Europe, and affiliates around the globe, GRS Group provides local market knowledge with a global perspective for institutional real estate investors, occupiers and lenders worldwide. The GRS Group team has evaluated and advised on over $1 trillion in CRE transactions.