Now Amazon has cities across North America, including Toronto, vying to host a second headquarters \u2014 dubbed HQ2 \u2014 one that Amazon says will bring \u201cas many as 50,000 high-paying jobs\u201d and in which it expects \u201cto invest over US$5 billion.\u201d<\/p>\n
But while Seattle has reaped massive benefits from Amazon\u2019s growth into one of the world\u2019s biggest companies \u2014 and the South Lake Union campus has been heralded as a model of urban revitalization \u2014 there have also been costs, which HQ2 hopefuls such as Toronto would be wise to keep in mind. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe biggest single thing on the mind of most Seattleites \u2026 is the way the city has become unaffordable,\u201d says David Rolf, a prominent Washington State union leader who represents long-term care workers. <\/p>\n
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<\/a><\/p>\nPart of Amazon’s headquarters in Seattle.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Seattle is now rated the seventh most expensive city in the U.S. by the Cost of Living Index, a measure put out by the non-profit Center for Regional Economic Competitiveness that looks at housing, utilities, healthcare, groceries, transportation and miscellaneous goods and services. <\/p>\n
Online realtor Zillow says the cost of an average home has nearly doubled to $722,000 in the past five years and the region\u2019s median housing rent of $2,203 puts it in the Top 10 among U.S. cities.<\/p>\n
Those sky-high housing prices have left Seattle with the nation\u2019s third-largest homeless population, estimated by a recent count at 11,643 people.<\/p>\n
\u201cDespite the economic prosperity \u2026 in part because of it, Seattle is facing a homelessness crisis of unprecedented proportions,\u201d Ben Noble, the city\u2019s budget director, wrote in the city\u2019s 2018 budget. <\/p>\n
The duelling legacies of Amazon\u2019s first headquarters would have been almost inconceivable when the seeds of Seattle’s boom were being sown.<\/p>\n
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos started selling books out of his garage in the Seattle suburb of Bellevue in 1994. <\/p>\n
In 1995, Amazon.com opened with a website advertising itself as \u201cEarth\u2019s Biggest Book Store.\u201d Within a month it was selling books in every U.S. state and in 45 countries.<\/p>\n
By the early 2000s, as Amazon continued to grow, a real estate company called Vulcan, controlled by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, had acquired 60 acres in the South Lake Union area.<\/p>\n
Located north of downtown, South Lake Union was a sleepy 359-acre neighbourhood with about a thousand residents, some parking lots, light industrial sites and shops. One of the busiest places on Sunday mornings was Denny\u2019s restaurant. <\/p>\n
Allen\u2019s vision was to transform the area into a centre for biotech, with commercial and residential sections mixed in.<\/p>\n
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