Last Fall when Amazon initiated its food fight among NorthAmerican metros for its “second headquarters,” I predicted in thisspace that the Washington DC area would be the winner. Jeff Bezosand company would pick a 24-hour city in the eastern half of thecountry that would culturally appeal to a millennial work forcewanting the opportunities and amenities of a bright-lights, bigcity environment. The location would need to fit a more progressiveconsciousness in keeping with the current Seattle home base, a deepblue mecca. It would be a gateway city at a transportation nexuswith internationally connected airports in proximity to interstatesand train lines linked into key regions reaching down to the southand into the Midwest. And it would be a place close to a cloudcomputing networking intersection. The area around the nation'scapital fit the bill. It didn't hurt that Bezos owns theWashington Post and would want to make a statement in thenation's political power center.

So the DC area has won the prize or at least half of it. NewYork is the other winner. The Apple fits my parameters on allcounts too—gateway city, the nation's number one draw for youngon-the-make talent, and a progressive bastion. I put New Yorkbehind Washington primarily because even a big company like Amazonmoving into the area wouldn't make the same impact that it wouldelsewhere. It would be just another big company in a city full ofthem.

And so what's the take away? The trend has been clear for thepast generation. Our major U.S. gateways—the 24-hour cities whichdraw the smartest people because of their convenience (masstransit, walkable core residential neighborhoods), and cultural andentertainment amenities—are the places where our nation's businessenterprises want to be. Outside of Chicago, these mega urbancenters are on the coasts and they are where finance,entertainment, tech and biotech have been concentrating for decadesanyway.