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SIAP: Amazon.com might open an office in Detroit?

  • Think it'll happen?

    Amazon.com Detroit? Report suggests online retailer may set up shop in the Motor City - GeekWire

    Amazon.com is already growing like gangbusters in Seattle, grabbing as many talented software developers and engineers as it can. But the online retailing powerhouse might not be able to get its fill in the Pacific Northwest, and it appears headed to an unlikely place to find more talent: Detroit.

    www.geekwire.com

    theSpartan

  • I hope their employees are provided with bullet proof vests

    GreenAllDay ●

  • I sure hope they come here.

    signature image

    TheBlitzIsOn ●

  • I think MSU and community leaders need to do everything they can to try to lure these types of companies to East Lansing.

    tVargMan Prime

  • I bet they'd be able to score some sick tax breaks if they play their cards right.

    Fog Of War

  • Fog Of War said...

    I bet they'd be able to score some sick tax breaks if they play their cards right.

    I hope so...we need to compete against Texas and the sun belt states that by tax code, offer competitive tax rates for businesses and citizens.

    Rather than offering tax breaks, we need to adjust the tax code so that these "breaks" are permanent and normal.

    tVargMan Prime

  • What is Lansing/ East Lansing doing to attract these companies?

    And He Got it ●

  • Guess Id have to pay sales tax on every Amazon purchase now. Oh wait, I claim that on my state returns every year...whistling

    This post was edited by nbalma23 on 7/11/2012 at 5:32 AM

    nbalma23 ●

  • Does this mean they'll start charging Michigan sales tax? banghead

    LoneWolfSparty ●

  • nbalma23 said...

    Guess Id have to pay sales tax on every Amazon purchase now. Oh wait, I claim that on my state returns every year...whistling

    Agreed...... I see this as a bad thing.

    Gyro

  • And He Got it! said...

    What is Lansing/ East Lansing doing to attract these companies?

    Greater Lansing has a handful of technology companies, including TechSmith and Jackson National Life (both in Okemos). Downtown Lansing is more appropriate for smaller companies, like boutique web design shops. East Lansing has personal focus on startups which are hosted in the TIC (Technology Innovation Center) and The Hatch.

    So the answer is nothing. Lansing/EL are not really doing anything to attract companies to them; rather, they are focused on growing talent internally and getting local university students to stick around. The recently-opened NEO Center is another example of this trend. Will it work? Who knows, but the spaces do exist and the major challenge today is coordination.

    Detroit, on the other hand, has a lot of available commercial space, and plenty of buildings they can renovate to turn into new commercial space (like the M@dison). Detroit also has well-connected civic and business leaders who can recruit large companies to the area.

    tRCMB's Top 5 Worst Posters Power Rankings: #1 Nucky, #2 The Doctor, #3 Brodson, #4 Ghost, #5 Blanch

    Vim

  • nbalma23 said...

    Guess Id have to pay sales tax on every Amazon purchase now. Oh wait, I claim that on my state returns every year...whistling

    I thought the rule was that they had to have a retail presence in the state. As in, a physical Amazon store where you could go and purchase goods.

    tRCMB's Top 5 Worst Posters Power Rankings: #1 Nucky, #2 The Doctor, #3 Brodson, #4 Ghost, #5 Blanch

    Vim

  • Vim said...

    I thought the rule was that they had to have a retail presence in the state. As in, a physical Amazon store where you could go and purchase goods.

    In Texas they have just a warehouse and they pay taxes.

    tBookkeeper ●

  • VargMan said...

    I hope so...we need to compete against Texas and the sun belt states that by tax code, offer competitive tax rates for businesses and citizens.

    Rather than offering tax breaks, we need to adjust the tax code so that these "breaks" are permanent and normal.

    Major corporations are far less concerned with state tax rates than the public is led to believe. Companies like Amazon all have teams of accountants that shuffle profit between divisions to reduce tax liability. Of course they will try to negotiate as many tax breaks as possible, but several other factors are much more important to a company's bottom line.

    Amazon will likely save far more in rent than they will lose in taxes by locating in Detroit over a sun belt city. Housing is also relatively cheap throughout the metro area, both for rent and purchase. Combine that with the agglomeration benefits of Dan Gilbert's new "Webward Ave" initiative (probably what made Amazon consider Detroit in the first place) and Detroit is a very attractive option.

    It's impossible to overstate the importance of Dan Gilbert's (and to a lesser degree, Karmanos, Ilitch, and Penske's) investment in downtown Detroit. The financial status of the city at large is almost irrelevant to a major corporation when other billionares are ensuring stability through private-sector decisions.

    signature image

    tRCMB's resident Wayne State Warrior and Sam's Club Spartan fan.

    fishrose ●

  • GreenAllDay said...

    I hope their employees are provided with bullet proof vests

    Yep - because working in downtown Detroit's CBD from 9-5 Monday-Friday is so freaking dangerous. loco

    stinkytofu

  • I'm really surprised that Amazon or like companies don't open large warehouse operations in Detroit. The real estate cost has to be dirt cheap. Or, a call center with the cheap rent and relatively low wages for unskilled labor (and the abundance of unskilled labor).

    Rook

  • fishrose said...

    Major corporations are far less concerned with state tax rates than the public is led to believe. Companies like Amazon all have teams of accountants that shuffle profit between divisions to reduce tax liability. Of course they will try to negotiate as many tax breaks as possible, but several other factors are much more important to a company's bottom line.

    Amazon will likely save far more in rent than they will lose in taxes by locating in Detroit over a sun belt city. Housing is also relatively cheap throughout the metro area, both for rent and purchase. Combine that with the agglomeration benefits of Dan Gilbert's new "Webward Ave" initiative (probably what made Amazon consider Detroit in the first place) and Detroit is a very attractive option.

    It's impossible to overstate the importance of Dan Gilbert's (and to a lesser degree, Karmanos, Ilitch, and Penske's) investment in downtown Detroit. The financial status of the city at large is almost irrelevant to a major corporation when other billionares are ensuring stability through private-sector decisions.

    The difference in downtown since Gilbert moved Quicken is tremendous. With BCBS down here as well, it is like a real city during the day near Campus Martis. Still a long way to go, but you can definitely see the difference in just the past 2 years.

    On an aside, my neighbor owns a small (and quickly growing) internet company with 20-odd employees in Southfield. He got a call from Dan Gilbert and they talked about him moving his office to one of Gilbert's buildings in Detroit. My neighbor said it wasn't the right time to move, but he would consider it in the future. He then said to Dan, "you should be proud of what you are doing in Detroit." Gilbert's response was, "you should be ashamed you aren't doing more." Pretty sure he is moving his office down there in the next 12 months.

    BH Spartan ●

  • Vim said...

    Greater Lansing has a handful of technology companies, including TechSmith and Jackson National Life (both in Okemos). Downtown Lansing is more appropriate for smaller companies, like boutique web design shops. East Lansing has personal focus on startups which are hosted in the TIC (Technology Innovation Center) and The Hatch.

    So the answer is nothing. Lansing/EL are not really doing anything to attract companies to them; rather, they are focused on growing talent internally and getting local university students to stick around. The recently-opened NEO Center is another example of this trend. Will it work? Who knows, but the spaces do exist and the major challenge today is coordination.

    Detroit, on the other hand, has a lot of available commercial space, and plenty of buildings they can renovate to turn into new commercial space (like the M@dison). Detroit also has well-connected civic and business leaders who can recruit large companies to the area.

    Aren't there quite a few insurance companies headquartered in Lansing? Why/how does that play into this? Off the top of my head I know the accident fund and auto owners for sure. If you count Delta Dental they are in greater Lansing (Okemos). Maybe that's it but I thought there were some more.

    Stils

  • Rook said...

    I'm really surprised that Amazon or like companies don't open large warehouse operations in Detroit. The real estate cost has to be dirt cheap. Or, a call center with the cheap rent and relatively low wages for unskilled labor (and the abundance of unskilled labor).

    GalaxE Solutions runs call center operations downtown. They have a big banner on the side of their building that says "Outsource to Detroit." It's really a good business move, because rent is just as cheap as it is in Omaha, Sioux Falls, or other great plains cities where call centers are prominent, but there is a much larger labor pool and more amenities.

    This post was edited by fishrose on 7/11/2012 at 9:04 AM

    signature image

    tRCMB's resident Wayne State Warrior and Sam's Club Spartan fan.

    fishrose ●

  • BH Spartan said...

    The difference in downtown since Gilbert moved Quicken is tremendous. With BCBS down here as well, it is like a real city during the day near Campus Martis. Still a long way to go, but you can definitely see the difference in just the past 2 years.

    On an aside, my neighbor owns a small (and quickly growing) internet company with 20-odd employees in Southfield. He got a call from Dan Gilbert and they talked about him moving his office to one of Gilbert's buildings in Detroit. My neighbor said it wasn't the right time to move, but he would consider it in the future. He then said to Dan, "you should be proud of what you are doing in Detroit." Gilbert's response was, "you should be ashamed you aren't doing more." Pretty sure he is moving his office down there in the next 12 months.

    Absolute truth. I work downtown and love it. I've been here for over three years since graduating and frankly would never want to not work down here. There is an energy downtown you don't get in some random Farmington Hills office park. I enjoy going for walks and seeing random events, or renovations...or at lunch the RiverWalk or Campus Martius...it's great.

    stinkytofu

  • ~Stils~ said...

    Aren't there quite a few insurance companies headquartered in Lansing? Why/how does that play into this? Off the top of my head I know the accident fund and auto owners for sure. If you count Delta Dental they are in greater Lansing (Okemos). Maybe that's it but I thought there were some more.

    Jackson National is the biggest insurance company in the area.....not sure why Vim called JNL a technology company....they are in the life insurance industry.

    DeputyMSU

  • BH Spartan said...

    The difference in downtown since Gilbert moved Quicken is tremendous. With BCBS down here as well, it is like a real city during the day near Campus Martis. Still a long way to go, but you can definitely see the difference in just the past 2 years.

    On an aside, my neighbor owns a small (and quickly growing) internet company with 20-odd employees in Southfield. He got a call from Dan Gilbert and they talked about him moving his office to one of Gilbert's buildings in Detroit. My neighbor said it wasn't the right time to move, but he would consider it in the future. He then said to Dan, "you should be proud of what you are doing in Detroit." Gilbert's response was, "you should be ashamed you aren't doing more." Pretty sure he is moving his office down there in the next 12 months.

    I think it moved.

    signature image

    tRCMB's resident Wayne State Warrior and Sam's Club Spartan fan.

    fishrose ●

  • Not really relevant to this specific topic, but whatever happened to Clairvoyant Energy going into the former Ford Assembly plant in Wixom? That was a big deal when it was announced a few years ago. Yet nothing seams to have happened. I suspect Clairvoyant Energy might have had second thoughts once half their team in CA said "hell no, we won't go"?

    signature image

    Hank Moody ●

  • ~Stils~ said...

    Aren't there quite a few insurance companies headquartered in Lansing? Why/how does that play into this? Off the top of my head I know the accident fund and auto owners for sure. If you count Delta Dental they are in greater Lansing (Okemos). Maybe that's it but I thought there were some more.

    Jackson National, Auto-owners, BCBS, Millers Mutual, Delta Dental, Accident Fund, and Farm Bureau

    This post was edited by Dr Leo Spaceman on 7/11/2012 at 9:42 AM

    signature image

    Dr Leo Spaceman

  • LoneWolfSparty said...

    Does this mean they'll start charging Michigan sales tax? banghead

    This!

    Formerly: Jasper232540

    TheSpartanEdge

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