DTLA, The Underdog Choice for Amazon’s Next HQ

Amazon’s city search for its second headquarters has the real estate investment community reeling. While many are taking bets on where the ecommerce giant will land, Downtown Los Angeles potentially checks all of the boxes on Amazon’s—assumed—checklist. While no one is necessarily making bets on Downtown L.A., Mike Akerly, VP at Polaris Pacific, says that it could be a good fit, thanks to available office space, a robust housing pipeline and public transit. We sat down with Akerly for an exclusive interview to talk about the characteristics that Amazon needs in a (second) home city and why L.A. could fit the bill.

GlobeSt.com: What is Amazon looking for in a headquarter city?

Mike Akerly: Amazon needs someone that has a comprehensive plan to onboard such a major project. There are a number of things that they are going to be looking for, staring with a plan for or an existing pipeline of significant housing to accommodate 50,000 new residents, not to mention supporting industries that will end up following them there as well. They need someone with a comprehensive zoning plan that is going to accommodate all of that new building, and they need a city with a building approval process that is efficient and will allow this to happen in a reasonable period of time. You are going to need an already robust public transit system. That is going to be a major limiting factor in the 200-plus cities that would like to be part of this. They will also need major universities that have a track record of attracting in-stem type education, and even a K through 12 systems that is going to be funneling people into universities with STEM education. There are a lot of other things that are harder to quantify. For example, will they want a West Coast location that makes it easier for executives to get back-and-forth to Seattle, or do you expand to the East Coast where you expand to whole other group of people?